Two men in their 30s were charged on Tuesday over last year’s felling of a 200-year-old Sycamore Gap tree, a recess in Hadrian’s Wall in northern England.
The mysterious felling of a beloved plane tree on a stormy night in September has left people feeling sad, angry and confused about this senseless act: why would anyone chop down one of Britain’s most iconic trees?
Two men from Cumbria, England, Daniel Graham, 38, and Adam Carruthers, 31, have been charged with damaging the tree and the UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to local police in Northumbria. Heritage part of Hadrian’s Wall. Hadrian’s Wall is located about 100 miles southeast of Edinburgh, near the border between England and Scotland. It was built by the Roman army after Emperor Hadrian visited Britain in 122 AD.
Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Fenney, Senior Office Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Fenney, said: “We recognize the strong emotions caused by the felling incidents in local communities and further afield, but We would remind people to avoid speculation, including online, that could impact ongoing cases,” a statement said on Tuesday.
Graham and Carruthers are expected to appear in court on May 15, according to the Crown Prosecution Service, prosecutors in England and Wales. It was unclear what attorney represented the two men.
Mr Graham and Mr Carruthers were arrested by police in October on suspicion of felling trees and were released on bail. Two other people were also arrested after the incident: a 16-year-old boy and a farmer in his 60s, although police later said they would take no further action against them.
Seven months after the tree was cut down in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, police have yet to say whether they have discovered any possible motive for the crime. The felling of the tree took place in a sparsely populated area, at least a 20-minute walk from the nearest car park, complicating the police investigation. The cuts in the tree were clean and appeared to have been cut with a large, heavy-duty chain saw.
The Crown Prosecution Service said that when deciding whether to prosecute a criminal case, British police will weigh whether there is enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and whether prosecution is in the public interest. In the UK, arrests can only be made if police have “reasonable grounds” to suspect involvement in a crime.
For those mourning the loss of the tree, the National Trust for Conservation provided some hopeful news in March: seeds and material collected from the felled Sycamore Gap tree had begun to germinate.
