A video allegedly showing a chunk of the Sycamore Gap tree taken as a trophy by two friends has been played in court.
Self-employed groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers, 32, are accused of travelling under the cover of darkness during Storm Agnes and using a chainsaw to chop down the 100-year-old tree beloved by the nation.
They both deny two counts of criminal damage to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall when the sycamore crashed down onto the Roman wall on September 28, 2023.
Today, during the third day of their trial, prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court photos were found on Graham’s phone after his arrest showing a piece of the tree and a chainsaw in the back of his Range Rover, taken in the hours after the felling.
Jurors have heard the piece of wood from the iconic tree may have been taken by them as a ‘trophy’.
But despite extensive searches of Graham and Carruthers’ homes, the alleged chainsaw and chunk of wood have never been found.
Jurors were told that forensic video analyst Emiliano Polito was instructed to compare photos and videos on Graham’s phone showing a piece of wood and a large chainsaw in the boot of a vehicle – taken at 2am on September 28 2023 – with images taken by a scenes of crime officer of Graham’s Range Rover at his property.
Ms Brown said Mr Polito conducted a vehicle comparison and found that ‘there is no doubt that vehicle X (the vehicle in the images and videos) and the recovered vehicle (Graham’s Range Rover) are the same vehicle’.
Prosecutors told Newcastle Crown Court photos were found on Daniel Graham’s phone after his arrest showing a piece of the Sycamore Gap tree and a chainsaw in the back of his Range Rover
Groundworker Daniel Graham (left), 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers (right), 32, each deny two counts of criminal damage to the tree and Hadrian’s Wall
Graham told police he went to Sycamore Gap after it was cut down ‘to see what had been done’, the court heard.
He answered ‘no’ when asked if he was responsible for felling the tree, and on what he knew about it, he said: ‘Just what I seen on the internet and obviously the news. I know about as much as everybody else does, it’s all over national news.’
When asked in a police interview about his movements on the night of the damage, Graham said: ‘It’s a month ago, I haven’t a f***** clue to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t know.
‘I don’t really do a lot to be fair. I’m either at work, the yard or the bird’s round.
‘If I cut the tree down I would be able to turn round and say that’s where I was that day. I didn’t cut that tree down, so I didn’t do anything exciting.’
Graham had sometimes cut down trees as part of his business but said he hadn’t been trained for ‘a large fell’ when asked by cops how he would have chopped down the Sycamore Gap.
He had wagons, tippers and dumpers as part of the business, and he owned three or four chainsaws.
Asked if any of these chainsaws could be linked to cutting down the sycamore, Graham told police: ‘They wouldn’t be big enough.’
He said he would need to check a tree out prior to cutting it down as part of his work.
Grabs from an enhanced version of mobile phone footage showing the Sycamore Gap being felled in September 2023, which has been shown at Newcastle Crown Court
Police officers look at the Sycamore Gap tree next to Hadrian’s Wall on September 28, 2023
Junior prosecution counsel Rebecca Brown told jurors today that Graham was first arrested at his home at Millbeck Stables, Carlisle, on October 31 2023.
His home was searched and two chainsaws were seized from a work shed, as well as a mobile phone inside a jacket pocket hanging in the caravan.
The court heard Carruthers was first arrested on suspicion of criminal damage on October 31 2023 at the caravan where he was living at The Old Fuel Depot at Kirkbride Airfield, Wigton, Cumbria.
Ms Brown said the two men were arrested for a second time on November 3 2023, following further evidence.
The Old Fuel Depot site was searched by Northumbria Police on the same day and a chainsaw was found in a shipping container.
None of the chainsaws found in the searches are said to be the one used in felling the Sycamore Gap tree, jurors have heard.
Jurors were shown bodyworn camera footage from PC Peter Borini, who attended the scene
Ms Brown said Mr Carruthers’ father’s house on Church Street, Wigton, Cumbria was also searched by police on November 3.
She told jurors: ‘The reason for the search was to look for outstanding property, namely a chainsaw and a wedge from the tree.’
Ms Brown said the house was ‘extremely cluttered with access to most rooms difficult because of this’ and there was no sign of any chainsaws or a wedge from a tree.
She told the court the house was also searched for chainsaw parts, chainsaw packaging; felling equipment, mobile phones, receipts of any relevant purchases, banking details, silver spray paint, clothing stained in silver paint and boots. None of these were found.
Jurors were told that forensic video analyst Emiliano Polito was instructed to compare photos and videos on Graham’s phone showing a piece of wood and a large chainsaw in the boot of a vehicle – taken at 2am on September 28 2023 – with images taken by a scenes of crime officer of Graham’s Range Rover at his property.
Ms Brown said Mr Polito conducted a vehicle comparison and found that ‘there is no doubt that vehicle X (the vehicle in the images and videos) and the recovered vehicle (Graham’s Range Rover) are the same vehicle’.
Yesterday, video of the alleged moment the Sycamore Gap tree was felled was played to jurors.
The two-minute and 41-second video was taken from Graham’s iPhone.
Police analyst Amy Sutherland said the video was in the download section of Graham’s phone, which was taken from his jacket pocket.
She said it was ‘in darkness’ but that ‘sounds of a chainsaw’ could be heard.
Ms Sutherland told the court she had been able to get the co-ordinates of where it was filmed from the metadata, and that they were for Sycamore Gap.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told jurors earlier in the trial that the video had been enhanced by a Northumbria Police expert but was still ‘extremely dark’.
However, what appears to be the outline of a tree can be seen, initially upright, before falling to the ground by the end of the clip.
What prosecutors say is the ‘unmistakable sound of a chainsaw’ can be heard.
The video clip was played to the court twice – once showing the dark, raw footage, and a second time after it had been enhanced by a police specialist.
The trial continues.
