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.

This brain not being fully developed until 25 really pisses me off. I had two kids by the time I was 25.

It's horseshit. Obviously.

Imagine that person on a jury. Christ almighty.

’for Gods sake why’ what? Why did they do it or why are you upset?

How anyone can say it’s just a tree is beyond me! Shows a lack of understanding of the environment and absolutely no soul at all.

60 year old man arrested tonight

The statement is fact. It’s scientific fact. I’m not cherry picking.

I have been consistent and explained myself multiple times.

You have compared rape and murder to tree felling which is disgusting - and I say that as an ecologist who values nature above most things.

You haven’t read anything I’ve written.

Calling me an apologist makes no sense.

Your argument makes no sense.

It’s a scientifically accurate statement. It isn’t excusing behaviour, it isn’t saying ‘this person shouldn’t be prosecuted for what they have done’ but I am using it to add perspective for the people online who are demanding the harshest punishments for this crime. All I have said is that people need some perspective and the punishment should fit the crime. But another poster is trying to start a fight so is twisting my words. At no point have I said that negative behaviour should be excused due to being under 25, but it is important to remember that their age is important to consider as will be the facts and reasoning. And the fact that there has, as I have repeatedly said, been no information put forward as to what has happened. So demanding the blood of a 16 year old is crazy when we don’t know the facts. That a 60 year has now been arrested backs that up.

Apologists (and thankfully there are very few regarding this) will minimise things when it comes to criminal acts.

And yes, it wasn't just a tree (as I said previously, that it was a tree is besides the point), it was a beloved thing, and that thing was destroyed because it was beloved.

An individual(s) thought, "that thing is beloved, so I will destroy it".

We know they thought this because the thing they destroyed was famous as a beloved thing, you couldn't not know this. It wasn't just some random act where an object was plucked out by chance. They purposely, with great planning, in a remote location needing travel and tools, targeted a specific object, knowing the damage they would inflict. It was premeditated, thought out.

To destroy something because it is cherished, is the act of a sick, twisted, spiteful bastard.

My 12 year child has one grandparent who left school at 14, one who left at 15 and two who left at 16 (one of whom moved out of home into a shared house at that age and had to cook, budget etc as well as working full time). The brain may not be fully developed at 16 but it should be developed enough to have a basic grasp of right and wrong and even to act like semi useful member of society rather than indulging toddler level desires then shrugging off the consequences.

@Ghostytoasty thankfully this is just a discussion forum not a jury so people can say what they please within talk guidelines. Most people manage to get to 25 without being destructive arseholes and your repeated 'it's a scientific fact' makes you seem tone deaf. People are deeply upset about the tree, stop lecturing them, it's not helpful or kind. Why do you chose to have empathy for this young man but not with those who mourn the tree or are shocked by the calculating and aggressive nature of this man? Do you think that people being angry about this on MN, within the talk guidelines, will impact a fair trial? If any posts risk a fair trial MN would delete them. If this 16 year old engaged in risky destructive behaviour, his parents should have kept a closer eye on him.

I hope the bastards who did this are found and sentenced to a very long time in prison.

Have you read any of my posts on this thread? At all? People are focusing on the fact I said the brain isn’t developed.

What I’m saying is that the punishment should fit the crime. That’s what I’ve said over and over. In my earlier posts I expressed how awful this was. Caring for trees like this is my job. I value such nature above most things in life. And of course I expect such a reaction. But do I think people should be saying some of the things I’ve read online about someone who is technically stiff a child? So I think it’s right to compare his crime to rape and murder? Or course fucking not. This tree like many others meant a hell of a lot to me. So trying to call me whatever it is you’re trying to call me is ridiculous, but as it is a public forum as you point out, I can also say publicly that I think some of the sentences people are dreaming up for a 16 year are obscene.

The reason why I have repeated the statement about brain development is because Everyone else is obsessing over it and ignoring everything I have said repeatedly.

This forum is batshit sometimes.

Which is precisely what I have said repeatedly. If people actually read what I have written rather than obsessing about one particular statement, maybe they would understand that.

If some peoples argument is that a 16 year olds brain isn't fully developed, I'm sure the 60 odd year old man who's been arrested has a fully developed brain 🙄

Oh well, seems it was a teenager, probably doing it for a 'bet'. Sad but true.

At least the 'kid's got talent' - he did do a good 'felling' after all - not condoning his actions, but I'll 'bet' not many on here have properly felled a tree lately.

RIP Sycamore Gap Tree.

I don't think we know who felled the tree, 2 people have been arrested so far.

Disgusting comparison 😳

I’m very sad/ mad but comparing it to rape and murder of a human is beyond weird. As is calling for vigilante justice or hanging. And it is a fact that the brain isn’t developed until 25, obviously the age for criminal culpability in this country is 10 and people can judge this how they like but it doesn’t change that fact.

You didn't have kids with your brain so that's irrelevant

Presumably she used her brain to feed them, clothe them, keep a roof over their heads and generally keep them alive and well.

Having not completed 100% of brain development can be used to explain a 19 year old not bothering with a pension plan but not grasping that criminal damage is against the law not so much.

This brain not being fully developed until 25 really pisses me off. I had two kids by the time I was 25.

What's that got to do with anything? Giving birth is no guarantee of mental maturity. Girls can give birth at 14 or younger.

Disgusting comparison 😳

Yup. Really distasteful.

Sometimes I think people get so wrapped up in arguing they lose sight of what they are really saying.

That’s good because that’s not what I said, is it? I said the punishment shouldn’t be too harsh taking everything into consideration - it should fit the crime.

Someone said they wanted to chop him up. Some else compared it to rape and murder. I read somewhere else that he should be jailed for life. My point was, as I have said a hundred times, is that we need perspective of the situation and that the vigilante justice and bloodlust calls are ridiculous. IF this 16 year old even did it, we don’t have any of the facts, yet alone all of them. The point I was also making is that we shouldn’t let this situation be used by the government and media as a scapegoat over some other similar behaviours they have acted out in recent years. People are twisting my words to fit their own rhetoric and now it has somewhat detailed the thread.

I didn’t just give birth to them, did I? I looked after them, fed them, kept them clean and safe. So I’d say it had plenty to do with everything. Christ, the fuss we see here sometimes about having a newborn from women in their 30s, you’d think it was climbing Everest.