Sycamore Gap accused tells jury his co-accused confessed to the crime
One of the men accused of cutting down the world famous Sycamore Gap tree has told jurors his co-accused confessed to the crime during a phone call.
Daniel Graham has today told how Carruthers admitted he was responsible just hours after the felling - but he did not believe him.
Giving evidence from the witness box at Newcastle Crown Court for the first time, Graham was asked by his barrister Christopher Knox: "Did you have anything to do with cutting down the sycamore tree at Sycamore Gap?"
Graham replied: "No, I did not."
Mr Knox added: "Or damaging the wall?"
Graham responded: "No, I did not."
Mr Knox asked him: "Did you have any idea it was to happen?"
Graham said: "No, I did not."
Mr Knox asked: "Did you in any way participate by watching or doing anything of the sort?"
Graham answered: "No, I did not."
Jurors have heard Graham's Range Rover and phone were at Sycamore Gap when it was felled.
Graham told jurors he would leave the keys to the Range Rover in his yard as it was "not a fancy car" and had no real sentimental or monetary value so he would allow people to borrow it.
He said at the time the sycamore was felled he had no idea someone had taken the vehicle, which had his phone inside.
Graham told jurors on the morning of September 28, 2023, he knew someone had used his car during the night as it was not in the same place he had left it.
He added that he noticed pictures of a saw on his phone that morning and "didn't think much of it" then after a phone call with Adam still "didn't believe what it was".
The court heard Carruthers made a call to Graham at 9.22am on that same morning and previous to that had sent him a link to breaking news about Sycamore Gap.
Graham told jurors that during the conversation his co-accused was "claiming he had cut down Scyamore Gap tree, claiming it was him that had cut it down".
He added: "I told him he was talking sh***, I didn't believe it, I didn't believe he had been the one that done it."Graham said during a previous conversation in 2021, Carruthers had described the sycamore as "the most famous tree in the world".
Jurors have heard the chainsaw used to fell the sycamore and a wedge of wood missing from the tree have never been found.
Groundworks boss Graham, of Millbeck Stables, Carlisle, and Carruthers, of Church Street, Wigton, who worked in property maintenance and mechanics, each deny two charges of damaging property in relation to the tree and Hadrian's Wall, which it fell on and are being tried by a jury.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court the tree had stood for over a century, during which it became a famous site, reproduced countless times in photographs, films and art.
Both men deny all charges - the trial continues.
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