Editor: No, not them two chumps, the heroes in IMAGE 8 below. Folks, I tell you, them pranksters in the Editing Department do love their photoshop cutting tools, however, unlike our image editors who can undo any cuts they have made by the stroke of a back or reset button, the cuts the two ‘Eejits’ below made to the Sycamore Gap Tree (SGT) were irreparable, irreplaceable and irreplicable.
The ‘Eejits’ travelled over the border from Cumbria into the holy land that is Northumberland bringing with them, no, not gifts of ‘Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh,’ but ill-intent and lots of it. There are parallels to be drawn here with the UK’s southern coastline, such as any Tom, Dick or Harry can come and go as they please.
Although not from the rain forest, the Sycamore Gap Tree (SGT) was as big as any giant redwood or as grand as any oak tree, at least in the hearts and minds of the people who travelled from all over the world to visit it, and capture an image of themselves using the tree as their iconic backdrop
No longer will people be able to see the SGT standing tall within one of the many natural undulations in the surrounding landscape of the glorious Northumberland Countryside, and all because of two numpties.’
Perhaps they might wish to reflect on their actions, such as leaving their ‘weapons of mass destruction’ at home before any future thoughts of ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ into Northumberland, a mistake made by Julius Caesar himself when he entered Rome with his Army.
Caesar would eventually pay the price when those closest to him used him as a pincushion by planting their daggers deep into his body fatally injuring him.
What was considered justice then is thankfully not the justice handed out today, which saw the two ‘perps’ who ‘murdered’ the SGT sent to one of his Majesty’s ‘boarding houses’ affording them three hots to cot.
In life some things are irreplaceable and yes, I get that we can replace an object with a lookalike version or even a hologram image, but there is nothing like the touch and feel of the real thing, a living breathing organic entity that in itself may not be anything spectacular, yet it can draw people from all over the world to be in its presence and as the famous magician Paul Daniels would have put it, ‘now that’s magic.’
The ‘Sycamore Gap Tree’ (SGT) also known as the ‘Robin Hood Tree,’ made famous by the film ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’ starring Kevin Costner as Robin and Morgan Freeman as Azeem, along with a truly spectacular cast.
Following the film I wonder how many ‘Bucket Lists’ have included a personal visit to Sycamore Gap as part of a ‘pilgrimage’ to the sites of their favourite movies, or a list of ‘Things I Must See Before I Die;’ I would imagine quite a few, however, the ‘bucket listers’ have been left with a gap in their lists or should that be, ‘holes’…. OUCH!
Sadly, the tree is no more and all because of two men, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, who thought it would be, in their minds only, a good idea to cut down the tree using a chainsaw in the dead of night and film the event, perhaps because they had their own idea of what a Hollywood epic might look like with them in the starring roles.
Yes, great idea lads, so what was your next trick going to be, or should I say your next ‘selfish and cruel act of unwanted damage’ that you have lined up for the world to see; fortunately, we will never know and anything over and above this would be speculation, which of course I will do as a ‘practicing satirist’ along with my many other indulgences.
Note that I said, ‘going to be,’ because had it not been for the amazing efforts of the police assisted with key information from the public, these two plonkers might not have been caught, although we must not fail to mention the technology, which captured both Graham and Carruthers in a vehicle on their way to cutting down our now dearly beloved tree.
To give you a flavour as to how significant the ‘loss’ of the tree has been I have included this excerpt from the Evening Chronicle:
Google AI has kindly provided us with a ‘timeline of events,’ which began in 2023 and ended in 2025:
‘It was two weeks after the landmark was reduced to a stump with a chainsaw that police got the breakthrough they needed to snare Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers. And it took a combination of intelligence, damning mobile phone evidence and shocking video footage to bring the pair to justice.’
Thank you Google AI.
NOTE: We should point out that the actual words in the caption were added by the Red Brick Editing Department, who have speculated what conversation might have been going on between the two ‘nighttime ninjas.’
The obvious question is: Why did these two knuckleheads rob us all of what had become a part of our heritage, which brought so much joy to all those who saw it in its full glory and did these two ‘bad asses’ know what they were destroying?
First though, a little bit about the tree itself managed by the National Trust on land full of roman history, including Housesteads Roman Fort, Chesters Roman Fort and Museum, Birdoswald Roman Fort and of course, Hadrian’s Wall.
AI Overview:
‘The Sycamore Gap tree was approximately 150 years old when it was illegally felled in September 2023. It was a mature sycamore tree, standing near Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, England.’
Ty AI.
‘While some consider the sycamore tree a weed due to its prolific seeding and ability to colonize various environments, it’s not universally classified as such. Sycamores are naturalized trees in the UK, meaning they were introduced but now reproduce naturally according to Tree Frontiers.’
‘Their tendency to spread rapidly and their ability to thrive in diverse conditions can lead to them being seen as a nuisance, especially in managed landscapes. However, they also offer benefits, such as providing food and shelter for wildlife and contributing to biodiversity according to Woodlands for sale.’
https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/tree-identification/sycamore
Another big thank you to Google AI.
Now, getting back to the two questions I wrote about several paragraphs ago: Why did these two knuckleheads rob us of our heritage, and did they realise the significance of what they were destroying, because I am struggling to derive any sense of achievement or gratification they must have felt, otherwise, why do it?
To try and answer that question I considered what the two perps said during their trial, however, unsurprisingly, it did not proffer any convincing rationale as to their actions, or should that be any ill-informed and irrational thinking behind the duo’s thought processes or lack of.
However, the ‘old chestnut’ of self-intoxication through drinking too much alcohol leading to their actions did pop its head up and make an appearance during trial, which was not accepted by Judge Lambert as can be seen in the video, which you can watch and listen to by clicking the link below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/clymgm1v43vt
Yes, we all know that drinking too much ‘man beer’ can lead to the type of antics people would not get up to when sober, but that’s the risk people take when overindulging themselves, although their attempt to mitigate their actions was ‘dead in the water,’ or should that be the alcoholic contents in the bottles and cans, had they only taken time to read the disclaimer notices before downing the contents.
What the trial did do was produce the generic ‘cut-throat’ defence where one defendant blames the other, which is an admission of the actions for which they are accused, but only in the sense that ‘He made me do it, honestly, cross my heart and hope to….’ etc.
The use of the ‘cut-throat’ defence generally means neither defendant has much of a leg to stand on when it comes to taking advantage of the ‘sporting opportunity’ English Law affords an accused during trial, especially introduce such a legal manoeuvre in a complicated and complex case such as this one.
When the cut-throat defence runs aground and no amount of ‘bobbing and weaving’ by a defendant’s defence team can produce the goods, there is always the ‘Doolally tap’ card to throw in, after all, nothing lost is nothing gained.
On the 9th of May, the two were found guilty and on the 15th of July they were both produced at Newcastle Crown Court for sentencing having previously been remanded in custody. Both men were awarded 4 years and 3 months to be detained at His Majesty’s Pleasure.
In her summation the trial judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, stated that the Cumbrian Cartel of two acted in concert further adding that, in her opinion, their actions were as a result of ‘Bravado and thrill-seeking.’
So, what did the public think? Here are several comments before and after sentencing:
After Sentencing:
Clearly not all guns pointing in the same direction there?
And a Word from the Crown Prosecution Service:
So, other than the above opinions of both Mrs Justice Lambert and the Crown Prosecution Service, what other motivations might the two ‘tree chopping chums’ have had?’ Well, I have thought about this and have come up with three possibilities:
- They jointly decided that they would commit and ‘ignominious feat,’ so that they would occupy a footnote in the annals of Northumberland’s dark and shameful criminal history.
- Any thought as to the significance and outcome of their actions, if at all, must have been ‘slim’ and ‘none,’ and slim had already left town.
- Sometimes, people just do bad things that defy explanation and perhaps it is only now whilst Carruthers and Graham are lying in their cells they are asking themselves, ‘Why the heck did we do that?’
Whatever it was that went through their minds, I doubt if they considered what the destruction of the tree would mean to the local economy, which clearly generated wealth and employment to the local area.
The priceless loss of the SGT designated as a ‘World Heritage Site’ by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will forever be one of the most pointless acts of ill-will demonstrated to an international audience of tree-loving movie goers.
We can only surmise what ‘great feats’ these two ‘tree fell-ons’ had planned for the future, if at all, but if they had, then it would have to have been something big and a much loved publicly iconic structure:
Finally, what, if anything, is there to learn from this sad chapter of local history? Well, for one it goes to prove there is no honour amongst thieves, so’s to speak, because they have not been convicted of stealing anything, well, not anything tangible, but steal they have, metaphorically at least.
Both local and international audiences, as well as future generations have been permanently deprived of seeing for themselves, how a locally raised ‘weedy’ tree became an inspiration for both amateur and professional ‘snappers’ everywhere, so much so that it became an international icon made famous when…. ‘Hollywood came to town.’
The Sycamore Gap Tree Circa 1800’s to 2023.
…. For the Red Brick International Media News Group.