Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers chopped down the tree for a mindless ‘thrill’ and then revelled in media coverage. Both were jailed for four years and three months.
The drunken stunt that destroyed the ‘irreplaceable’ Sycamore Gap tree will cost taxpayers almost £1m, it has been revealed.
“Moronic’ duo Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers chopped down the tree for a mindless ‘thrill’ and then revelled in the media coverage, Newcastle crown court heard. They were both locked up for four years and three months. The value of the tree was disputed in court with the prosecution saying it was worth about £458,000 after an initial estimate of £622,000; Graham’s team claimed it should only be valued about £150,000. The court heard its value was around £500,000 when the impact on tourism and visitors to the local area were taken into account.
The exact value did not unduly influence sentencing. The damage to Hadrian’s Wall as the tree fell, a world Unesco heritage site, was valued at more than £7,000. The initial operation to secure the site and deal with the felling of the tree was £30,000.
The National Trust calculated that they had spent £55,000, all money taken out of their charitable donations. Another £25,000 was spent last year on the aftermath as they dealt with the huge public reaction.
Andrew Poad, National Trust manager for Northumberland where the tree stood, said in an impact statement to the court that the value of three was ‘incalculable’ because it was ‘irreplaceable’. He said: “More than £30,000 of our revenue was taken dealing with the incident.
“Another £25,000 was spent in 2025, all from National Trust charitable funds. We worked to mitigate the environmental degradation. It would be almost impossible to quantify the number of hours spent and the staffing costs. The impact has been felt every day, every hour since, staff have been working around the clock.”
The two week trial and extensive 18-month police investigation is likely to cost the taxpayer in excess of £250,000. Graham, 39, from near Carlisle, and Carruthers, 32, of Wigton, both Cumbria, finally admitted that they were responsible for the crime which shocked the world.
Carruthers admitted wielding the chainsaw as Graham filmed him on his own mobile phone in confessions to probation officers before they were sentenced at Newcastle crown court this week. By then, their 10-day trial had racked up court costs of around £3,500 per day.
There were three officers working on the inquiry for the 19 month police inquiry prior to the trial. The man in charge of the investigation, DI Calum Meikle, insisted that the use of Northumbria Police time was appropriate.
The legal aid bill for Graham and Carruthers is expected to hit £18,674.28, according to a FoI request. The pair are going to serve at least 40 percent of their sentence; the cost of keeping them behind bars for a year is £44,460.
They will each spend at least 20 months in prison if they serve the minimum of 40 percent of their sentences, bringing the combined bill for their incarceration to another £150,000. Hairy Biker Si King, 58, a native of Northumberland, told the Mirror that the financial bill was outweighed by the emotional cost.
“I just cannot get my head around it, even now the question is why did they do it?,” he said. “There is no closure because we still do not have an answer to that. It is simply madness; it was a totem somewhere between the celestial world, and the earth. It was so shocking to have that taken away.”
Sentencing the two former workmates, Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said: “I am confident that a major factor in your offending was sheer bravado. Felling the tree in the middle of the night and in the middle of a storm gave you some sort of thrill, as did the media coverage of your crimes over the following days.
“You revelled in the coverage, taking evident pride in what you had done, knowing that you were responsible for the crime which so many were talking about. Whether bravado and thrill-seeking provide the complete explanation for what you did, I do not know.
“However, as I say, I am quite sure that you are both equally culpable for the destruction of the tree and for the damage to the wall.”
Adam Cormack, the head of campaigning for the Woodland Trust, said the public response to the crime showed that we have to improve legal protections for our ‘most special and important trees’ A Tree Council and Forest Research review of that protection was published in April. He added: “We urge the Government to take forward the recommendations of this report.
“The sentence sends a clear message that gratuitous damage and destruction of trees is unacceptable. The consequences of the felling of this iconic tree are tragic for nature, for our cultural heritage and for these two men and their families.”
Sycamore Gap cost breakdown
£500,000 valuation of tree itself, covering loss in tourism, local visitors, cost to the UK and North east economy
£7,000 damage to Hadrian’s Wall Unesco World Heritage site
£55,000 National Trust bill (all charitable donations)
£250,000 police/courts: £200,00 police probe, £35,000 crown court costs, collection of evidence, cell site analysis.
Legal aid bill so far: £18,674.
£150,000 prison costs for Graham and Carruthers, based on serving 40 percent of sentence.
Total: £980,674.