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Video footage allegedly showing the moment the famous Sycamore Gap tree was chopped down was played to a jury.
Groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers, 32, each deny two counts of criminal damage to the tree and the wall, overnight on September 28 2023.
They are accused of driving from Carlisle to the Sycamore Gap, where prosecutors say one used a chainsaw to fell the tree, while the other filmed the act on a mobile phone.
On the second day of the trial at Newcastle Crown Court, jurors were shown a two-minute and 41-second video, taken from Graham’s iPhone, that allegedly showed the sycamore being chopped down.
The grainy footage appeared to show the outline of a figure working at the trunk of the tree, before it crashes to the ground.
Police analyst Amy Sutherland told the court that the co-ordinates for where the video was filmed were for Sycamore Gap. Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Richard Wright KC said the the video was taken at 12.31am on September 28.
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Mr Wright had told jurors: “In simple terms, Graham’s phone was right there at Sycamore Gap as the tree was being cut down, and his phone filmed the tree being cut down.
“The prosecution say whoever filmed the cutting down was as much responsible for the damage to the wall and the tree as the man wielding the chainsaw. They were in it together, and they were Carruthers and Graham.”
The prosecutor said he understood Graham’s defence was his car and his phone must been used without his knowledge to make the journey and record the felling. Carruthers also denied having anything to do with the tree being cut down, Mr Wright said.
Also on Wednesday, jurors heard that Graham’s phone contained numerous Google searches for an earlier suspect in the Sycamore Gap investigation who was later released with no further action.
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Ms Sutherland said that between October 3 and October 5 searches were made on Graham’s phone for “Water Renwick” and “Walter Renwick Plankey Mill”. Mr Renwick was arrested on September 29 2023 but was later told he would face no further action.
Earlier on Wednesday, the court also heard from an expert at Historic England on the impact on Hadrian’s Wall. The damage caused when the tree was felled was valued at £622,191 for the tree and £1,144 to the wall, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Historic England Lee McFarlane told the jury the felling could have been “catastrophic” for the wall.
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She said while some stones of the wall were damaged, it was fortunate the tree was still in full leaf as the crown of the tree appeared to have acted as a “cushion”.
The court also heard a statement from the first police officer at the scene, Pc Peter Borini, who arrived on he morning of 28 September. In a statement to the court, he said rangers were “visibly upset” at what they saw.
He cordoned off the scene and took sawdust and bark samples, but could not find a wedge from the trunk that was removed in the felling process. The prosecution suggest this could have been taken by Graham, from Carlisle, and mechanic Adam Carruthers, from Wigton in Cumbria, as a trophy.
The trial continues.
