The Sycamore Gap Tree

[PassingStranger]

2 men on trial for felling the tree.
Aren't they embarrassed, what on earth possessed them?
They weren't exactly young either.

Grown men
Bet their parents are proud not?
Grow up.

I agree. A long prison sentence is a waste of money.... Lots and lots of community service.

It is just a tree, a photogenic popular one, but just a tree. If it was anywhere else there wouldn’t be this fuss. I read earlier the 2 muppets could get 10 years in prison. Locally a teenager has just been jailed for 2 years for killing 3 of his friends in a car accident. How does that tally with 10 years for chopping down a tree? People like to get all uppity and outraged about things that they think give them some sort of moral high ground, in this case one tree.

I don't get the outrage.

It's only 100 years old, in the tree world, that's not that much, just plant a new one.

If it was an 1000 year old yew tree that generations had known I'd be sadder.

As I said upthread, I don’t think the upset is just about the tree itself.

It’s about the act of felling it. The mindset behind the action.

That’s a big element of it IMO.

You’re not the least outraged because a couple of very stupid wankers have decided for fuck know’s whatever reason to go out and chop down a living thing, more useful to the planet than themselves, film their desecration of it, keep a bit of it as a souvenir and offer up no reason at all as to why?
I might suggest you’re possibly as lacking in brain cells as they are.

So you wouldn't care if I came to your house and cut down a tree that was planted 60 years ago by your granddad? And everyone commented how lovely it is, and you knew it had been planted in memory of his mother who loved lilacs.

After all it's not old, is it?

How much would you have paid to have had the court hearings live-streamed?

Cases like these would pay for themselves.
Open justice anyone ?

It's even made International news

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/09/uk/sycamore-gap-trees-convictions-scli-intl

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/05/03/un-splendide-erable-sycomore-abattu-en-angleterre-la-mission-debile-de-deux-hommes-devant-la-justice_6602631_3210.html

Have you ever heard of global warming?

If these dickheads get pleasure out of mindlessly killing “just a tree”, you can be pretty damned sure that the rest of their pathetic lives are pretty bloody dubious.

I can’t believe that some people are minimising the actions of these bellends. What’s wrong with you?

Just seen that they were remanded.

That warms my cold, dead heart.

For all those 'just a tree' commenters, it was an iconic tree, recognised across the world. A place where proposals took place and ashes were scattered.

It's also about the mindset of two people who literally thought nothing, absolutely nothing, about taking a couple of minutes to destroy a tree just for the shits and giggles. There appears to be an ever growing section of society who think it's OK for them to just do as they please, to behave in any way they want, regardless of the impact on anyone else. The act of cutting down the tree was just so incomprehensibly, pathetically, mindless.

Hopefully the sentence will be harsh enough to be a deterrent to other similarly selfish, vacuous nob heads.

It makes me think of the people who are photographed grinning next to tigers they have shot. The joy of destruction literally for the sake of destruction, and taking a trophy as well. It wasn't just a tree to them, it had meaning to those idiots, they knew exactly what they were doing.

The problem is that I keep seeing suggestions for punishments (either on here or on another thread - there are a few) that could be described as “cruel and unusual”. I’m rather glad that the sentence is decided by the judge and not by the general population.

For their own protection, apparently.

The fact that so many people feel anger and revulsion is a reminder that there are more good people in the world than bad - even though it often seems the other way round.

I have seen updated threads on this case, but sentencing is today: any guesses for what people think they will receive. For Info the max is ten years.

I am guessing 30 Months plus 200 hours community service.

I'm a little bit on the fence with this one tbh. They are clearly a pair of idiots, and I agree it's mindless destruction. However, you wouldn't normally give custodial sentences for vandalism would you? I assume not anyway, happy to be corrected.

I'd far rather see custodial sentences for the ceo's of corporations who knowingly wreak absolutely havoc on our environment through pollution - no one seems to be going after them. I guess one doesn't make the other right? I'll stop rambling now.

I don’t really disagree, and mentally am sentencing Paula Vennels with a multiplier of four to whatever this pair receive (obviously total irrelevant and she hasn’t been charged with anything!)

Waiting for judge to come back to court. She’s asked if 4 years is enough. No idea why she’s asking. That’s her decision.

Totally agree that the people who covered up the post office scandal and who actively and knowingly colluded to have innocent people sent to jail should be jailed. For a bloody long time.

These dickheads who wantonly vandalised the tree? They should also be jailed. IMO.

4 years and 3 months. Much longer than I was expecting, but will retain my Paula Vennels multiplier!

And 40 per cent of it at least to be spent in prison. Idiots.

"Mrs Justice Lambert also made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of Daniel Graham's Range Rover and mobile phone, both of which were used in the felling mission."

I can’t believe that some people are minimising the actions of these bellends. What’s wrong with you? @MrsSkylerWhite

It's called perspective. Some of us prefer to retain our indignation and outrage for things that we feel are important, otherwise it will be just another angry rant.

It's possible to jail both - Im sure few would argue against that - and for most people , it's possible to be outraged/angry about more than one thing at a time.

Normally, cutting down a tree would not result in jail. However, in this case, the value of the tree was the significant factor. The methods used to calculate this value are available online.

I'm delighted they got a prison sentence. Shame the custodial part isn't longer.