2 men convicted in chainsaw massacre of UK's beloved Sycamore Gap tree

LONDON (AP) — In late September 2023, as the first big storm of the fall was kicking up in the U.K., a malicious plan was hatched to take down one of England’s favorite trees.

Daniel Graham sent a message to his buddy, Adam Carruthers, telling him to “get the saws warmed up,” suggesting they might get some work clearing fallen trees.

But it wasn’t high winds that brought down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that night, jurors determined Friday. It was Graham and Carruthers — not cleaning up damage from the storm, but creating a mess of their own.

The pair were convicted of two counts each of criminal damage by a jury in Newcastle Crown Court after little more than five hours of deliberations over two days.

Even without the smoking chainsaw, prosecutors were able to prove the case through a trove of digital evidence that either put the men near the tree at the time it was felled or showed them excitedly discussing it the next day as the story of the tree’s demise went viral.

The prime piece of evidence was a grainy video on Graham’s phone of the crime being committed on the dark and stormy night.

Footage of the tree's last stand showed a solitary figure silhouetted beneath the towering canopy in a struggle with the trunk as the unmistakable sound of the chainsaw whined above the wind. With a single crack, the buzz of the saw died down, the person stepped back and the tree that had stood about 150 years crashed to earth.

Metadata pinpointed the location of the video at the tree’s location in Northumberland National Park. Other data showed Graham’s Range Rover had traveled there.

The Sycamore Gap tree was not Britain’s biggest or oldest sycamore, 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 long 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.”

Neither Graham, who had a small construction business, nor Carruthers, a mechanic who sometimes worked with him, showed any visible reaction as the verdicts were read.

Justice Christina Lambert ordered both men held in custody until sentencing on July 15 and said they could face “a lengthy period in custody.” The maximum sentence for criminal damage is 10 years in prison.

The defendants, once close friends, both testified that they were at their respective homes that night and had nothing to do with the crime.

Graham pointed the finger at Carruthers, saying he was obsessed with the tree. Graham said his friend and another man had taken his Range Rover and phone to the site to frame him.

Carruthers said he didn't understand why people were so upset about “just a tree,” saying it was “almost as if someone had been murdered.” His lawyer suggested Graham told a desperate lie after being caught.

Prosecutor Richard Wright said the two men were in on it together from the start, with evidence showing Carruthers had gone far out of his way earlier in the day to go near the tree on a reconnaissance mission.

Wright said he couldn’t say who cut the tree and who held the phone, but the two men were the only people in the world with the video on their devices.

As Graham’s vehicle was tracked on its way back toward his home in Carlisle — about 40 minutes away — Carruthers received a video from his partner of their infant and replied, “I’ve got a better video than that,” Wright said.

“At the time of that text conversation, the only people in the world who knew the tree had been felled were the men who had had cut it down,” Wright said. “And the only people in the world who had access to the video were the men who had filmed themselves in the act of cutting down the tree: the defendants Graham and Carruthers.”

The next day, the two feverishly exchanged messages after the tree was discovered.

“It’s gone viral. It is worldwide,” Graham said.

Carruthers forwarded a Facebook comment by a man who criticized the “disgusting behavior” of the “weak” vandals.

Carruthers said he’d like to see the man “launch an operation like we did last night.”

Wright said police never located the chainsaw used to fell the tree, but each man had access to plenty of saws — a fact they both tried to downplay. Investigators also couldn't find a wedge of wood cut from the trunk to drop the tree in the right direction.

But images on Graham’s phone showed a slice of wood and a chainsaw in the back of his vehicle at his home. A forensic botanist said there was “very strong evidence” it was the missing wedge that Wright suggested had been taken as a trophy.

Prosecutors offered no evidence of a motive for the crime other than calling it senseless vandalism. But Wright suggested to jurors in his closing argument that the men cut the tree down for “a bit of a laugh” but had failed to realize the anger they would spark in the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery.”

The tree was originally valued at more than 620,000 pounds (around $830,000) and damage to the wall was estimated at 1,100 pounds (nearly $1,500).

But on Friday prosecutor Rebecca Brown said those figures are in dispute and are likely lower, but would still easily fit in the top category of harm for sentencing purposes.

FILE - A view of of the felled Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, Sept. 28, 2023. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)

Adam Carruthers, 31, arrives to attend Newcastle Crown Court where he is accused of criminal damage after the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - valued at £622,000 and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall - in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (PA via AP)

Adam Carruthers, 31, arrives to attend Newcastle Crown Court where he is accused of criminal damage after the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - valued at £622,000 and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall - in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (PA via AP)

FILE - The felled Sycamore Gap tree is removed at Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, Oct. 11, 2023. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)

FILE - Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, shining over the Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, July 3, 2016. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)