Two men are found guilty of illegally cutting down the world famous Sycamore Gap tree
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, are each convicted of two counts of criminal damage
Northumbria Police say the pair never gave an explanation for felling the tree, but prosecutors say they were "revelling in the public outcry" as news of their crime spread
"In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended [the tree's] historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction," the S says
What sentence might the men receive on 15 July? We run through the possibilities
Watch moment Sycamore Gap tree is felled
Erica Witherington
Reporting from Newcastle Crown Court
Ever since Mrs Justice Lambert told the jury she planned to send them out this morning, there has been high anticipation here at Newcastle Crown Court.
The media, whose numbers had dwindled in the last couple of days, are back in force.
How long will a verdict take? You just never know with a jury.
But no-one is going too far away.
Watch the moment Sycamore Gap tree appears to have been felled
The strongest piece of evidence was the video found by police on Daniel Graham's mobile phone.
The two minute and 41 second film was totally dark, sound-tracked by high winds and a chainsaw, ending with the cracking of wood, a big crash and eerie silence.
Police experts enhanced it so images could be seen, which clearly showed someone standing at the foot of a tree and appearing to cut at its trunk before the tree tumbled over.
The video's metadata showed it had been recorded on that phone at about 00:30 BST on 28 September 2023 at the exact co-ordinates of the Sycamore Gap tree.
It was, prosecutors said, the moment the tree was felled, and only the people who did it could have that video, which would have been "gold dust" and gone "viral" if it had been released.
The only two phones that video was ever found on were Mr Graham's, which it was filmed on, and Adam Carruthers', to which it was sent a short while after it was recorded.
Both men strongly denied filming it.
No verdict will be returned between 13:00 and 14:00 when the court will take its lunch break.
Jurors have been deliberating for just over an hour.
Over the next few posts we will look back at the key evidence and what the prosecution and defendants claimed it showed.
The case against the two men was built on analysis of their phones, in particular Daniel Graham's, although Adam Carruthers' mobile also had some potentially incriminating data (about which more later).
There were no eye witnesses who reported seeing the men actually do it or heard them talking about it and neither were there any forensics linking either of them to the scene.
So what did the phones reveal?
Image source, PA MediaThe trial began last Monday with the jury being sworn in and judge Mrs Justice Lambert warning them to set all emotion aside when reaching a verdict.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Richard Wright KC opened the case to jurors, describing it as a "moronic mission" and how the pair had taken a wedge away as a "trophy".
On Wednesday, the video which prosecutors say shows the moment the tree was felled, which had been filmed on Daniel Graham's phone, was shown to jurors.
The two defendants' police interviews were read to the court on Thursday, in which Mr Graham claimed he had been framed as part of a feud and Adam Carruthers said he had no training in using chainsaws.
Mr Graham took to the witness box on Friday, telling jurors his "best pal" Mr Carruthers had been fascinated with the tree and itted felling it. The court also heard he had made an anonymous call to police to point the finger at his co-accused.
The trial broke for three days over the bank holiday weekend and, when it resumed this Tuesday, it was Mr Carruthers' turn to give evidence. He told jurors he had "no clue" who felled the sycamore and expressed surprise at the public outrage as he thought it was "just a tree".
Yesterday, the closing speeches were made with the prosecution saying the pair thought felling the tree would be "just a bit of a laugh" but then were too scared to it it and be public enemy number one. The defence barristers reiterated the defendants' claims of innocence.
The jury left at 11:51 to begin their deliberations.
Before they walked out, the judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said they should take as long as they needed and must reach unanimous verdicts.
"There is no hurry, there is plenty of time, there is no right length of time for a jury to be out," she said.
She told the jurors they were "under no pressure at all" and "it takes as long as it takes".
She said the "only verdict" she could accept was a unanimous one on which all jurors were agreed and, while there may come a time for a majority verdict to be considered, "that time is a long way away" and would come at the impetus of the judge.
Image source, Nick LewisJurors have retired to consider their verdicts in the trial of two men accused of felling the world famous Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland.
Daniel Graham 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, each deny two counts of criminal damage.
The first relates to the tree, which was "irreparably damaged" when it was cut down on the night of 27 September 2023, and the second to the Roman Wall, several stones of which were broken by the falling timber.
The seven women and five men of the jury have sat through seven days of evidence at Newcastle Crown Court's courtroom one.
Before sending them out to deliberate, Mrs Justice Lambert reminded them of the evidence and their duty to set all emotion aside.
The judge also said the jury and court would observe a two minute silence at midday for the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
And with that, Adam Carruthers finishes giving evidence to the jury.
He has spent about three hours in the witness box.
Judge Mrs Justice Lambert sends the jury home, but not before telling them tomorrow should see her giving them legal directions and then three barristers giving their closing speeches to jurors.
The judge will then sum up the evidence for the 12 before they go out to consider their verdicts.
A reminder that Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers each deny two counts of criminal damage.
Mr Wright says Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham carried on exchanging messages for days after the felling when the global news coverage had died down and was already "chip wrappers".
Mr Carruthers accepts he did so because he was surprised at people still posting about it on social media.
The prosecutor wraps up his examination by asking: "You and Daniel Graham went out that night to cut down the tree">Mr Carruthers replies: "That's not true.
Mr Wright says: "When you woke the next morning you realised what you thought was 'just a tree' was global news">"That isn't true," Mr Carruthers says.
At the end of the note, Mr Carruthers called the man an insulting term.
Mr Wright is zeroing in on that response, saying Mr Carruthers could have taken one of two sides.
Either, he could agree with the Facebook commenter who said whoever felled the tree was weak and it was disgusting behaviour, or he could the point of view of the person who cut it down.
"You backed the man who cut down the tree, didn't you">
Erica Witherington
Reporting from Newcastle Crown Court
From behind the glass s of the dock, Daniel Graham watches his former friend on the witness stand.
He occasionally shifts in his seat and puts a hand through his hair.
He is following along, flipping the pages in a file of evidence in front of him as the prosecutor takes his co-defendant through the sequence of events.
We are returning to the voice note Mr Carruthers sent to Mr Graham in which, replying to someone who criticised the fellers of the tree as "weak", he said: "I'd like to see [the commenter] launch an operation like we did last night.
"I don't think he's got the minerals."
Mr Carruthers says: "I might have got my words mixed up but it was meant to be what 'he' did."
The message has been played three times now and Mr Carruthers is adamant he meant to say "he", as in whoever felled the tree, rather than "we".
He says "if it sounds like a 'we', I'm sorry".
"I was meant to say what 'he' did last night," he adds.
Mr Wright is asking Mr Carruthers about the messages the men exchanged the following day.
He asks if Mr Graham was paying him a compliment when he talked about a "nice angle" on the cut in pictures of the tree, but Mr Carruthers says he didn't read it that way.
Mr Carruthers circled a comment saying whoever had done it had been a professional, telling jurors he did so because it was someone agreeing with what the pair had already discussed.
Mr Wright says Mr Carruthers said in a voice note he thought it was going to go wild, rather than saying it was going wild, and asks why he expressed himself that way, suggesting he phrased it the way he did because he was talking about the reaction to something he had done.
"Because that was my opinion," Mr Carruthers says, adding it was obvious the news outlets were "going to get on it".
Mr Wright says: "Were you starting to think maybe it's not just a tree? Maybe right-thinking people are a bit upset about this? Was the penny starting to drop what you had done was not going to go away">Mr Carruthers replies: "I hadn't done anything."
The trial has resumed and Mr Wright is asking Mr Carruthers about the video which prosecutors say is the moment the tree was felled.
Nine minutes after telling his partner he had a video to show her, he received the video of the felling from Mr Graham's phone, Mr Wright says.
Mr Carruthers says the two were totally unconnected.
Mr Wright asks: "Why would anybody want to send you, of all people, that video of the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down at 01.39 in the morning">He says it didn't really cross his mind "to be honest" as to why he had been sent it.
Mr Carruthers is being asked about messages he sent his partner that night.
He was sent a video of his child being fed and replied he had a "better video than that", which he claimed was of the shed being damaged in a storm but prosecutors allege is the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree.
Mr Wright says the partner replied "I bet", implying she knew where he was going that night and what he was doing.
"You had discussed going up to Sycamore Gap to cut it down">There is now a short comfort break in proceedings.
Mr Wright is quizzing Mr Carruthers about his claim, first made today, that he had gone near the tree earlier in the day while trying to take his partner and their new daughter out for a meal at Newcastle but had turned around and gone home.
Mr Carruthers says they were going to go to the Metrocentre, which sparks some incredulity from the prosecutor.
"You thought 'let's have a first trip out with a newborn baby while [your partner] recovers from a caesarean, we will go for a three-hour round trip to the Metrocentre'">"The thing is when you get to the Metrocentre there's always seats," Mr Carruthers says. "We'd been stuck in the house for so long, I said 'let's get out, go and have a meal'."
Mr Wright asks if there was no restaurant in Carlisle they could go to.
"There are restaurants, but they're not the best," Mr Carruthers says, adding the Metrocentre is better.
Mr Wright says Mr Carruthers knew a storm was coming yet still decided to try and take his family for a drive across the country, to which Mr Carruthers says he did not think it would that bad as there had been no announcements on the radio, adding: "If it was that bad I wouldn't have risked [my child] and partner's lives like that."
Erica Witherington
Reporting from Newcastle Crown Court
Richard Wright KC for the prosecution is now on his feet.
He’s taken off his glasses and is holding them in front of him.
He occasionally jabs them in the air as he puts a series of swift questions to Mr Carruthers - suggesting to him that they find out what they can "both agree on".
Mr Wright is asking Mr Carruthers about why he was so surprised at the international outrage to the felling.
Mr Carruthers says he thought it was "just a tree", but then started seeing news reports and public comments appearing "more and more" on social media.
"Did you think it was a bit silly, all this fuss">Mr Carruthers replies: "That’s not true."
Adam Carruthers is now being cross-examined by the prosecutor Richard Wright KC.
"Who cut down the tree">Asked which other people "tick all the boxes" for felling the tree apart from him and Mr Graham, Mr Carruthers replies: "I'm not sure."
Mr Carruthers accepts he called Mr Graham the following morning to talk about the tree.
When asked what they talked about, Mr Carruthers says he could not exactly but it would have been about Facebook posts about the tree.
He says someone referred to it being blown down and he was telling Mr Graham that he had his own issues with the high wind damaging his shed that night.
He said then he saw the pictures from the scene and "thought 'hang on a sec, it hasn't been blown down, it's been cut down'".
Mr Knox asks him about Mr Carruthers comment about an "operation we did last night".
Mr Carruthers says he meant to say "he", as in the person who cut the tree down, as oppose to "we".
Mr Knox asks: "You know perfectly well the difference between he and we, don’t you">Mr Carruthers replies: "Not at all".