Overview

• Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, were unanimously found guilty of criminal damage by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on May 9, 2025.
• The Sycamore Gap tree, a 150-year-old cultural icon featured in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, was deliberately felled in September 2023.
• The defendants drove 30 miles through a storm, used a chainsaw to cut the tree, and filmed the act, causing £622,191 in damage to the tree and £1,144 to Hadrian’s Wall.
• Prosecutors presented video evidence, phone data, and messages showing the pair boasting about their actions, which they described as a 'moronic mission.'
• Graham and Carruthers, whose friendship has since deteriorated, are scheduled for sentencing on July 15, 2025, and face up to 10 years in prison.