This event is archived. Final snapshot from when the story concluded. View on Dashboard
Events / Accidents / Sycamore Gap Tree Fellers Jailed
Accidents criminal damage

Sycamore Gap Tree Fellers Jailed

Analysis based on 9 articles · First reported Jul 15, 2025 · Last updated Jul 15, 2025

Sentiment
-20
Attention
2
Articles
9
Market Impact
General
Live prominence charts, article sentiment distribution, and event development timeline available on the Ergen Dashboard
Market Impact

This event has no direct financial market impact. It is a local criminal event with cultural and environmental significance, but does not affect stock prices, commodities, or broader economic indicators.

tourism heritage conservation
Event Summary

Daniel Graham and Sycamore Gap tree were sentenced to four years and three months in prison each for felling the iconic Sycamore Gap tree and damaging United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall in September 2023. The tree, famous for its appearance in 'Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves' and a popular tourist attraction, was cut down in a 'moronic mission' that caused widespread public outrage. Both men initially denied involvement but later admitted responsibility, with their lawyers citing 'drunken stupidity'. The National Trust, which owned the tree, stated it could never be replaced, though signs of life have emerged from the stump and saplings are being grown from its seeds. United Kingdom — Northumberland National Park plans to display a section of the felled tree.

Key Actions
100 Daniel Graham damaged United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall
100 Sycamore Gap tree damaged United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall
90 United Kingdom — Newcastle Law Courts sentenced Daniel Graham
90 United Kingdom — Newcastle Law Courts sentenced Sycamore Gap tree
Entities Involved
per
Daniel Graham
Daniel Graham was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for his role in felling the Sycamore Gap tree and damaging United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall. He filmed the act and initially denied involvement.
Importance 100.0 Sentiment -80.0
per
Sycamore Gap tree
Sycamore Gap tree was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for his role in felling the Sycamore Gap tree and damaging United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall. He used a chainsaw to cut the tree and initially denied involvement.
Importance 100.0 Sentiment -80.0
loc
United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall
United Kingdom — Hadrian s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was damaged when the Sycamore Gap tree fell onto it. The damage is part of the criminal charges against Daniel Graham and Sycamore Gap tree.
Importance 70.0 Sentiment -10.0
ngo
National Trust
National Trust, a heritage and nature conservation charity, owned the Sycamore Gap tree and manages the site. Its general manager, Andrew Poad, expressed the irreplaceable loss of the tree.
Importance 60.0 Sentiment 0.0
loc
United Kingdom — Northumberland National Park
United Kingdom — Northumberland National Park is the location where the Sycamore Gap tree stood. The park announced plans to display the largest part of the felled tree in an installation.
Importance 40.0 Sentiment 0.0
govactor
United Kingdom — Newcastle Law Courts
United Kingdom — Newcastle Law Courts was the venue where Daniel Graham and Sycamore Gap tree were sentenced for felling the Sycamore Gap tree.
Importance 20.0 Sentiment 0.0
per
Richard Wright (barrister)
Richard Wright (barrister) served as the prosecutor in the case against Daniel Graham and Sycamore Gap tree, describing their act as a 'moronic mission'.
Importance 10.0 Sentiment 0.0
per
Christina Lambert
Justice Christina Lambert presided over the sentencing of Daniel Graham and Sycamore Gap tree at United Kingdom — Newcastle Law Courts, handing down their prison terms.
Importance 10.0 Sentiment 0.0
per
Andrew Gurney
Andrew Gurney was the attorney for Sycamore Gap tree, characterizing his client's actions as 'drunken stupidity' and a 'form of personal penance'.
Importance 5.0 Sentiment 0.0
per
Christopher Atkinson
Christopher Atkinson, of the Crown Prosecution Service, stated that both men lied about their involvement in the destruction of the Sycamore Gap tree.
Importance 5.0 Sentiment 0.0
per
Susan Dungworth
Susan Dungworth, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, echoed sentiments of outrage and upset regarding the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree.
Importance 5.0 Sentiment 0.0
cnt
United Kingdom
Importance 0.0 Sentiment 0.0
ERGEN INTELLIGENCE
Track this event live

Set up alerts, explore entity relationships, search across thousands of events, and build custom intelligence feeds.

Open Dashboard

About Ergen

Ergen is a news intelligence platform that converts raw news articles into structured data. It tracks events, entities, and the relationships between them, with sentiment and attention metrics derived from thousands of articles. Pages on this site are daily static snapshots from the platform's live database. For real-time tracking, search, and alerts, the full dashboard is at app.ergen.ai.