Closing summary
This live blog is now closed. Read the Guardian’s full story here
And here is a summary of the main developments from the sentencing hearing:
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, have each been jailed for four years and three months after being convicted of criminal damage to the much-loved Sycamore Gap tree, which had stood for more than 100 years in a fold in the landscape. The pair felled the tree as Storm Agnes raged in the early hours of 28 September 2023.
Judge Lambert said at Newcastle crown court that the pair would be released no later than 40 per cent through their prison sentences. Each will serve a further six months concurrently for the damage the pair caused to Hadrian’s Wall as a result of the felling.
The judge said Carruthers marked the trunk of the tree with spray paint on the night of the offence, before felling it in an act that lasted no more than two and a half to three minutes. She said Graham took a nearby viewing point and recorded the video of the felling on his mobile phone.
The judge said she did not accept the defendants’ explanations as “wholly honest or the whole story” and that their motivation for felling the tree was still not clear.
Andrew Gurney, for Adam Carruthers, said the defendant’s involvement in the felling was an act of “drunken stupidity”. Chris Knox, defending Daniel Graham, said the defendant had received hate mail since the felling which showed “very unpleasant, malign intent towards him.
The prosecution rejected admissions from the pair that they were drunk and did not believe the tree would fully fall down. Prosecutor Richard Wright told jurors the pair had engaged in a “moronic mission” to cut down the landmark.
Andrew Poad, the general manager for the National Trust of the Sycamore Gap site, said the iconic tree could “never be replaced”, calling it a totemic symbol. He said an email address set up within days of the felling for people to share thoughts received 600 responses in a month.
Updated
Lambert said she did not accept the defendants’ explanations as “wholly honest or the whole story”.
She said:
Adam Carruthers, your account that you had so much to drink that you had no memory of what happened is not plausible.
The tree felling demonstrated skill and required deliberate and co-ordinated actions by you... It was not the work of someone whose actions were significantly impaired through drink.
Nor, Daniel Graham, do I accept you just went along with your co-defendant. You filmed the whole event, you took photos of the chainsaw and wedge of trunk in the boot of your Range Rover.
The next day, you appeared to revel in coverage of your actions in the media.
The judge added that Graham’s behaviour was not that of someone who was “shocked and horrified” by what had happened.
