LONDON (AP) — Two men were convicted Friday of cutting down the beloved Sycamore Gap treein northern England in 2023 in an unexplained act of vandalism that caused widespread outrage.
A Newcastle Crown Court jury found Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers guilty of two counts each of criminal damage for felling the tree and toppling it onto the ancient Hadrian’s Wall.
The tree was not Britain’s biggest or oldest, but it was prized for its picturesque setting symmetrically planted between two hills along the ancient wall built by Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 122 to protect the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire, and had attracted generations of followers.
The tree had been known to locals but received international attention in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.” It drew tourists, lovers, landscape photographers and even those who spread the ashes of loved ones.
For over a century, Sycamore Gap has been an iconic natural landmark in the northeast of England, bringing immeasurable joy to those visiting the area,” Gale Gilchrist, chief prosecutor for the region, said in a statement after the verdict. “In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.”
