Sycamore Gap - tree has been felled!

[NepheliLoux]

Looks like someone has deliberately felled the famous tree in Sycamore Gap. I can’t believe anyone would do such a thing. I don’t normally get emotional but this has really upset me. It’s absolutely irreplaceable.

Could’ve been on an apprenticeship. My brother started his tree surgery (can’t remember exactly what the course name was now) course when he was 16, 3 days in college, two on work placement.

We don't know that the 16 yo actually cut the tree down.

He could have filmed it, shared it briefly online hence the arrest. Now they have him they need to establish who he was filming

I am not going to comment on any perpetrator until it is known. What I would say is that my parents had a big ( but much younger ) sycamore tree in their back garden - it's a big garden , not land or AONB. They have other trees and under proper guidance they had the sycamore cut down ( longer stump than this one ) as it was inhibiting the growth of other trees. It has sprouted and grown again , but it won't get the shape that mature tree had. So - not dead - but won't be the same. Certainly not that iconic shape.

I know full well this is not the same as other crimes but I do agree do we just say - well not murder so you're OK. No. As others have said - you are allowed to care about more than thing at once. Such a shame - I think I read a detective novel once called the Sycamore Gap. But I may be wrong.

@BasiliskStare - LJ Ross wrote a book called Sycamore Gap - where a skeleton is found buried in the Roman wall at Sycamore Gap.

So heartbreaking

Well it was hardly bloody accidental was it??

I have also heard from family in the area that it was a 16yo lad who had been sacked from the national park/trust. His FB photo is him with a chainsaw in full kit so he obviously knew what he was doing - this isn't a lad who has nicked his dad's chainsaw without really knowing how to use it.

I won't name him on here but his name and his picture are being circulated pretty widely in Northumberland right now.

If it was someone that worked there that would explain why the arrest was so quick.

@Auntieobem at the time I posted yesterday morning there were limited photos available and ongoing speculation as to whether it might be storm damage or vandalism. I quoted the Parks Authority line. Obviously subsequently it has been confirmed.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius Yes , yes that was it. Thank you . I had forgotten the author. Well goes to show it resonated with people . But thank you - I read that years ago. At least I know I wasn't making it up . Thank you ( Too many thank yous probably there. )

I've seen this.

Have also been told he was trying to big himself up to the place he's doing his apprenticeship, threatening to cut it down and the company turned him in

I have been told that he threatened to cut the tree down when he was being sacked.

Ah, sounds like two slightly differently versions doing the rounds, @CatamaranViper . Either way he's clearly an absolute twat - and incredibly stupid.

Well they sacked him for a reason.

Now he's proved them right.

Not sure he'll easily get employment again after this, his family must be devasted.

Just another male with a big fragile ego.

I imagine once his name is out there his family might need protection from possible vigilante retaliation. Stupid boy.

From twitter today - took planning and skill

I've heard this as well

You are assuming his family are decent folk by thinking they'd be devastated.

This was the act of scum. There ain't too many decent families who raise scum.

A stupid boy is someone who makes a schoolboy error. This act was anything but that.

This was a twisted, spiteful individual who will hopefully get his just deserts (won't state what that is). Unfortunately what happens to him means nothing as the vandalism cannot be undone.

He's lost his apprenticeship and is unlikely to get any other job in the NE for the foreseeable future. His family will be devastated, regardless of if they are decent folk because they will be hounded for months and talked about and judged for years.

I think he's already had his just deserts. While I am upset about the tree and still confused as to what possessed him, at the end of the day, a 16yo is still a child, and he has ruined his life, essentially, and had a massive negative impact on his parent's and sibling's lives.

Frankly I am still hoping someone chops a bit off of him, but you are probably being more reasonable, @Frequency .

I do definitely want to see him prosecuted though. I will be furious if he isn't actually charged and taken to court.

He’s been released on bail. I suspect he’ll be very quickly spirited away to another part of the UK.

It would be good if his name wasn’t reported. Why give him the notoriety? He needs to fade into insignificance.

No he should be prosecuted; fgs.

This time it was a tree, next time it could be a person