“We’re still devastated by it,” said Catherine Cape, who runs a small guest cabin nearby. “I can’t drive past it. … I just don’t like looking at the space there.”
Cape will be among those paying attention this week when prosecutors in Newcastle Crown Court begin presenting their case Monday against two men accused of toppling the famous Sycamore Gap tree and damaging the ancient wall.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal damage. Prosecutors said the value of the tree exceeded 620,000 pounds ($826,000) and damage to the wall was assessed at 1,100 pounds ($1,466).
That’s the thing about cutting trees. You cut a tree that is in your way for your own desire to see it gone. You plant a tree for future generations to enjoy. There’s no in between. We just don’t live long enough to see a tree replaced to the same glory as the one we cut.
And the tree in question here was over 150 years old, planted by a man that died back in 1890.
Cut down by two 30-somethings.