Mobile phone footage allegedly showing the moment the famous Sycamore Gap tree crashed to the ground to the sound of a chainsaw has been played to jurors.
Groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers, 32, each deny two counts of criminal damage to the tree and to Hadrian’s Wall overnight on 28 September 2023.
Jurors at Newcastle Crown Court heard the tree was a “totemic” feature of Northumberland and was part of a place “much loved by many thousands of people”.
Image: Adam Carruthers outside court. Pic: PA
The video clip lasting two minutes and 40 seconds was recovered from Graham’s phone and played to the court twice – once showing the dark, raw footage, and a second time after it had been enhanced by a police specialist.
Police analyst Amy Sutherland told the court the video was in the download section of Graham’s phone, which was taken from his jacket pocket.
In the enhanced black and white version, with audio of wind blowing and a chainsaw buzzing, a figure can be seen working at the trunk of the tree, before it finally crashes to the ground.
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, said the original video was enhanced by changing the contrast, putting a border around the frame and brightening the film “so it could be seen more clearly”.
The prosecution alleges that the two friends travelled to the location in the pitch black during Storm Agnes and used a chainsaw to fell the sycamore, which then crashed on to Hadrian’s Wall.
The damage caused was valued at £622,191 for the tree and £1,144 to the Roman wall, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Image: Thought to be the last picture of the Sycamore Gap in its famous position, taken on 27 September 2023. Pic: CPS
The court has heard that Graham, of Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, of Wigton, Cumbria, swapped messages after word spread of the tree being felled.
A statement by Tony Wilmott, a senior archaeologist with Historic England, said he produced a seven-page report into the damage caused to Hadrian’s Wall.
He said the Sycamore Gap name was coined in the 1980s, and over the decades it has become one of Northumberland’s most appreciated features.
He said: “Its unmistakable profile has been repeated in many media and because of this it has become totemic.
“It has become a place of marriage proposals, family visits and even the location of ashes to be spread.
“The place is much loved by many thousands of people.”
The court heard a statement from archaeologist and inspector for Historic England, Lee McFarlane, that some of the stones in Hadrian’s Wall were damaged when the tree was felled.
The wall and the tree belong to the National Trust.
Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has told Sky News that councils that believe they don’t have a problem with grooming gangs are “idiots” – as she denied Elon Musk influenced the decision to have a national inquiry on the subject.
The minister said: “I don’t follow Elon Musk’s advice on anything although maybe I too would like to go to Mars.
“Before anyone even knew Elon Musk’s name, I was working with the victims of these crimes.”
Mr Musk, then a close aide of US President Donald Trump, sparked a significant political row with his comments – with the Conservative Party and Reform UK calling for a new public inquiry into grooming gangs.
At the time, Ms Phillips denied a request for a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham on the basis that it should be done at a local level.
But the government announced a national inquiry after Baroness Casey’s rapid audit on grooming gangs, which was published in June.
Asked if she thought there was, in the words of Baroness Casey, “over representation” among suspects of Asian and Pakistani men, Ms Phillips replied: “My own experience of working with many young girls in my area – yes there is a problem. There are different parts of the country where the problem will look different, organised crime has different flavours across the board.
“But I have to look at the evidence… and the government reacts to the evidence.”
Ms Phillips also said the home secretary has written to all police chiefs telling them that data collection on ethnicity “has to change”, to ensure that it is always recorded, promising “we will legislate to change the way this [collection] is done if necessary”.
Operation Beaconport has since been established, led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), and will be reviewing more than 1,200 closed cases of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Phillips revealed that at least “five, six” councils have asked to be a part of the national review – and denounced councils that believed they don’t have a problem with grooming gangs as “idiots”.
“I don’t want [the inquiry] just to go over places that have already had inquiries and find things the Casey had already identified,” she said.
She confirmed that a shortlist for a chair has been drawn up, and she expects the inquiry to be finished within three years.
Ms Phillips’s comments come after she announced £426,000 of funding to roll out artificial intelligence tools across all 43 police forces in England and Wales to speed up investigations into modern slavery, child sex abuse and county lines gangs.
Some 13 forces have access to the AI apps, which the Home Office says have saved more than £20m and 16,000 hours for investigators.
The apps can translate large amounts of text in foreign languages and analyse data to find relationships between suspects.
Her comments followed the departure of the prince and several others from the organisation in March.
They had asked her to step down, alleging it was in the “best interest of the charity”.
Dr Chandauka told Sky News that Harry had “authorised the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world” without informing her or Sentebale directors.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex declined to offer any formal response.
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4:43
Why was Prince Harry accused of ‘bullying’?
‘Strong perception of ill-treatment’
The Charity Commission said it was reporting after a “damaging internal dispute emerged” and has “criticised all parties to the dispute for allowing it to play out publicly”.
That “severely impacted the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally”, it said.
But it found no evidence of “widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir at the charity”.
Nevertheless, it did acknowledge the “strong perception of ill-treatment felt by a number of parties to the dispute and the impact this may have had on them personally”.
It also found no evidence of “‘over-reach’ by either the chair or the Duke of Sussex as patron”.
‘Confusion exacerbated tensions’
But it was critical of the charity’s “lack of clarity in delegations to the chair which allowed for misunderstandings to occur”.
And it has “identified a lack of clarity around role descriptions and internal policies as the primary cause for weaknesses in the charity’s management”.
That “confusion exacerbated tensions, which culminated in a dispute and multiple resignations of trustees and both founding patrons”.
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4:43
Why was Prince Harry accused of ‘bullying’?
Harry: Report falls troublingly short
A spokesperson for Prince Harry said it was “unsurprising” that the commission had announced “no findings of wrongdoing in relation to Sentebale’s co-founder and former patron, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex”.
They added: “Despite all that, their report falls troublingly short in many regards, primarily the fact that the consequences of the current chair’s actions will not be borne by her, but by the children who rely on Sentebale’s support.”
They said the prince will “now focus on finding new ways to continue supporting the children of Lesotho and Botswana”.
Dr Chandauka said: “I appreciate the Charity Commission for its conclusions which confirm the governance concerns I raised privately in February 2025.”
But she added: “The unexpected adverse media campaign that was launched by those who resigned on 24 March 2025 has caused incalculable damage and offers a glimpse of the unacceptable behaviours displayed in private.”
All police forces investigating grooming gangs in England and Wales will be given access to new AI tools to help speed up their investigations.
The artificial intelligence tools are already thought to have saved officers in 13 forces more than £20m and 16,000 hours of investigation time.
The apps can translate large amounts of text in foreign languages from mobile phones seized by police, and analyse a mass of digital data to find patterns and relationships between suspects.
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2:00
Grooming gang inquiry: ‘Our chance for justice’
‘We must punish perpetrators’
The rollout is part of a £426,000 boost for the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme, which supports officers to investigate complex cases involving modern slavery, county lines and child sex abuse.
“The sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes, and we must punish perpetrators, provide justice for victims and survivors, and protect today’s children from harm,” said safeguarding minister Jess Phillips.
“Baroness Casey flagged the need to upgrade police information systems to improve investigations and safeguard children at risk. Today we are investing in these critical tools.”
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1:36
Key takeaways from the Casey review
Lack of ethnicity data ‘a major failing’
Police forces have also been instructed by the home secretary to collect ethnicity data, as recommended by Baroness Casey.
Her June report found the lack of data showing sex offenders’ ethnicity and nationality in grooming gangs was “a major failing over the last decade or more”.
She found that officials avoided the issue of ethnicity for fear of being called racist, but there were enough convictions of Asian men “to have warranted closer examination”.
The government has launched a national inquiry into the abuse and further details are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.