Watch footage shown in court of 'Sycamore Gap tree being cut down'

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".

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.

Messages between the two defendants Graham, of Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, of Wigton, Cumbria, swapped messages on the morning of 28 September 2023 after word spread of the tree being felled, the court has heard. Police analyst Ms Sutherland took jurors through the messages between the pair.

Graham said to Carruthers in one message: "Not a bad angle on that stump.