Sycamore Gap tree felling: Why this heinous crime had such an effect on us

Chopping down any healthy tree in the dead of night is bad enough, but taking an axe to one that is famous for its beautiful location, is next to an ancient monument of international importance and has even featured in Hollywood blockbusters is unforgiveable. Punishable, but unforgiveable.

As - sadly - with humans, it was also another case of how being photogenic gives you a greater news value. The before and after pictures, the stunning shots of the sycamore against the night sky, the pictures of the tree being sawn up... all these helped propel the story to coverage for several days. But, in this case, rightly so. It wasn’t just news because it was picturesque, but that certainly helped.

It seems strange to think that the crime was committed in September 2023, as it seemed more recent than that. This morning after five hours of jury deliberations, groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers, 32, were each found guilty of two counts of criminal damage – one to the tree and and one to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the sycamore fell on it.

In the aftermath of the guilty verdict - sentencing will be on July 15 - the National Trust said the tree had been a “backdrop to many personal memories”.

It said: “The needless felling of the Sycamore Gap tree shocked people around the country and overseas, demonstrating the powerful connection between people and our natural heritage. It was felt particularly deeply here in the north east of England where the tree was an emblem of the region and the backdrop to many personal memories.

“We’re now focused on creating a positive legacy for the tree, working in partnership with others. This includes planting the 49 ‘Trees of Hope’ grown from the original sycamore in communities across the UK later this year.”

Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service North East, said: “In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction. The international reaction of disapproval and anger following the destruction at Sycamore Gap illustrates how keenly the public has felt the loss of this beloved site, and we hope our community can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted today.”

That gets towards it, but I think it goes further. It’s not just anyone who lives near or who has been on holiday to Northumberland who cares. It’s not a political thing, and it’s not a gesture, and you don’t have to be an environmentalist to be outraged. It’s because the sycamore became an easy - but accurate - metaphor for the natural world, and our relationship to it. Human beings have, in the course of the last 500 or so years, despoiled the planet no end, whether felling forests for Tudor warships or digging coal to fuel the Industrial Revolution, and in turn belching carbon into the atmosphere.

Most people want to protect the environment - and it is an unusual person indeed who is not calmer when surrounded by fields, forests, and meadows. While the practicalities of everyday life mean it’s hard to be as “virtuous” as one might like - unless you’re in a city it’s hard to get by without a car, and our lives are very difficult to make plastic-free - that doesn’t mean that the aim is not there. So to see a simple, beautiful symbol of nature struck down during a night of idiocy hits harder than it might, and is more infuriating than it might be. To be obvious about it, that tree wasn’t human, nor even animal, but the anger you rightfully felt when you saw it toppled reflects our connection to the world. Nobody will weep if the culprits are locked up for a decent length of time.