LONDON − The park rangers were "visibly upset" when they discovered the victim's remains in a grassy beauty spot near an ancient wall built by Roman Emperor Hadrian almost 2,000 years ago.
Prosecutors allege two men traveled to the remote UNESCO World Heritage Site in the wild, undulating hills of northern England on Sept. 27, 2023. They brought a chainsaw and captured the killing in a grainy video. Footage shown to the jury shows the outline of a figure wielding the tool as a weapon. It lasts 2 minutes, 41 seconds.
Eighteen months later, some in Britain are still heartbroken by the grisly murder, even though the victim was a tree. The defendants in the case − Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Cumbria, England − pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal damage when their trial opened on April 28. The trial is expected to last two weeks. Judge Christina Lambert told jurors the case was about a single tree chopped down by a chainsaw. She said they would need to set aside any feelings they might have about the "Sycamore Gap" tree if they were familiar with it.
But the Sycamore Gap tree was no ordinary plant enclosed in bark and shedding leaves in a country that Adam Cormack from the Woodland Trust, a conversation charity, says has more ancient trees than the rest of Europe combined; more than 200,000, according to the trust's Ancient Tree Inventory database. A separate estimate by the University of Nottingham and the Woodland Trust suggests that the actual number of ancient and veteran trees, defined as those older than 150 years in age, in England could be between 1.7 to 2.1 million.
"It might be down to what trees symbolize for us," Cormack said. "Endurance, longevity, history, heritage − all of those things are pretty intrinsic to the British national identity. Those ideas may not be unique to Britain. But they are strong here. We're a small island. We're surrounded by history everywhere we go."
For many, the Sycamore Gap tree was a landmark and icon of remembrance, making memories and marking time. The tree was planted in the late 1800s and estimated to be almost 200 years old when it was felled. It stood at the center of a pronounced dip in the landscape alongside Hadrian's Wall. It was a place for first kisses, marriage proposals, birthday celebrations and intimate ceremonies. The tree won Britain's National Tree of the Year competition in 2016 and its scenic location was a popular spot for hikers, photographers and stargazers.
"I know one gentleman who sprinkled his wife's ashes at the tree's base because it was such an important place for her," said Steve Blair, the manager of Twice Brewed Inn, a family-owned pub and hotel where walkers often gathered for a meal and cozy pint by the fire before making the picturesque one-mile walk to the tree. "When Sycamore Gap was felled it landed near where her ashes were sprinkled. He finds that really offensive, you know?"
The inn in rural Northumberland long ago adopted a silhouette of the Sycamore Gap tree as part of its logo. Blair said it's not yet clear how the tree's chopping down will ultimately impact his business. However, in a reflection of the tree's enduring popularity as a destination he has a world map on the wall that visitors can put a pin in so he can keep track of from where, and how far, they've traveled. Blair thinks there's probably a pin in every single country.
"A lot of Europeans. Massive amounts of Americans and Canadians. Samoa, China − all over," he said.
Sycamore Gap tree was also Hollywood-famous.
It featured in the 1991 movie, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," starring the actors Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman. In the movie, a young boy is pursued by soldiers with dogs for stealing the Sheriff of Nottingham's − played by Alan Rickman − livestock to feed his starving family. The boy hides aloft in the Sycamore Gap tree's branches. His pursuers take out axes to cut down tree before he is saved by Robin of Loxley (Costner) and his trusted bodyguard, friend and adviser, Azeem (Freeman). The National Trust, a heritage and nature conservation organization that manages the land around the tree, says that when admirers visited it with their children they would often try to replicate the scene from the movie where the boy hides out under its stunning canopy.
"This wasn't just a tree," said Sarah Dodd, a British lawyer who specializes in tree law.
Dodd said that cases involving trees do reach local courts fairly regularly.
But those cases tend to involve disputes between neighbors or acts of petty vandalism. She said this one was different because a criminal prosecution was being brought by the Crown Prosecution Service, a national agency that works with police and courts to keep the public safe. Dodd described the Sycamore Tree gap investigation as "significant," with at least 15 witnesses, including from park rangers, and 40,000 pages of evidence.
It also includes cellphone data and messages, a license plate number caught on CCTV, a "trophy" wedge taken from the Sycamore Gap tree that has been examined by a forensic botanist and the grainy video shown to jurors which shows a figure who appears to cut at the base of a large tree, which then falls over with a big crash.
One of the men accused of chopping down the Sycamore Gap tree − Graham − told police he had been framed as part of a feud. The other − Carruthers − said he didn't know how to operate a chain saw.
Dodd said that a criminal prosecution in Britain for cutting down a tree is extremely rare, as is the potential for any prison time for such an offense. If the pair are convicted, and receive the maximum penalty, they could face 10 years behind bars. She said the case was probably unprecedented from a legal standpoint and "pretty extraordinary."
Edward Hope agreed with that characterization.
He is a retired cop who has established a second career as a content creator on YouTube. Hope makes videos about the outdoors, politics and local history in and around Newcastle, a city in northern England that is about a 45-minute drive to the Sycamore Gap tree. He has been documenting the incident as well as following the court case.
Hope said not everyone in Britain has been "shocked and outraged" by the tree's destruction. One of his recent videos titled, "Sycamore Gap Trial - Why It's NOT 'Just A Tree,'" alludes to that. Hope said comments on his videos are "roughly split" between those seething with anger over the felling and those who don't see what all the fuss is about and question whether a high-profile prosecution is a good use of taxpayer money.
"When I woke up and heard about the Sycamore Gap tree I got the same feeling as when I heard that Princess Diana was killed in a traffic accident. Waking up to the news, my jaw hit the floor," he said, referring to when the British royal beloved by many was killed in car crash in a Paris underpass on August 31, 1997. Her death sparked an outpouring of public grief in Britain and around the world. Her funeral was watched by more than 2 billion people.
Still, the Sycamore Gap tree was far from Britain's oldest tree. According to the Woodland Trust that is a yew tree named "Fortingall," believed to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old. It stands in a churchyard in Scotland. The Visit Scotland tourist board says it may even be as old as 9,000 years old, making it one of the oldest living things in all of Europe.
In recent weeks, another case of an ancient tree meeting an early end made headlines in Britain.
The CEO of Toby Carvery, a pub and restaurant chain, apologized after a 500-year-old oak tree was cut down outside one of its restaurants in north London. The company said it mistakenly believed the felling was necessary to prevent an accident.