Two men used a chain saw to cut down the celebrated Sycamore Gap tree in the north of England in a “moronic mission” in 2023, and the felling was filmed on a cellphone, a prosecutor in northeastern England said on Tuesday. The tree, a beloved landmark that stood by Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was found illegally cut down in September 2023. The trial for the two defendants in the case — Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, England — opened on Tuesday in Newcastle Crown Court, in England’s northeast, less than an hour’s drive from where the tree stump stands. The men have pleaded not guilty to two charges of criminal damage. Presenting the case against the defendants on Tuesday morning, the prosecutor, Richard Wright, called the felling a “moronic mission” and an “act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage.”
