The slaughter of Sycamore Gap Tree was “deliberate and insane,” said the prosecutor

Two men used a chain saw to reduce the famous Sycamore Gaping Tree in northern England in a “scary mission” in 2023, and slaughter was filmed on a mobile phone, a prosecutor in northeast of England said on Tuesday.

The tree, a beloved benchmark that was held near the Hadrian wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was found illegally cut in September 2023.

The trial for the two accused in the case – Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both of Cumbria, in England – opened Tuesday before the court of Newcastle Crown runs, in the northeast of England, less than an hour’s drive from the strain of the tree.

Men pleaded not guilty of two accusations of criminal damage. Presenting the case against the defendants on Tuesday morning, the prosecutor, Richard Wright, described the “agitated mission” and an “act of deliberate and insane criminal damage”.

He told the jurors that Mr. Graham and Mr. Carruthers had taken place on the site of the neighboring city of Carlisle at the end of September 27, 2023 to deliberately cut the tree.

Wright said that the tree had been cut with a chain saw in a few minutes, using methods that indicated specialized knowledge of slaughter, and that the act had been filmed on Mr. Graham’s phone.