To ask what punishment the guys who cut down sycamore gap tree deserve?

[JorgyPorgy]

I hope those sick thickoes get a jail term but also hefty fine and lengthy community service , planting hundreds of trees . Punishment to fit the crime.
I think they’ve angered & upset so many people globally that they will have targets on their backs now.
That beautiful tree was 300 y o & would have lived hundreds more. Lots of new samplings can’t replace the carbon sink of a mature tree nor give out the oxygen it did, nor support the biodiversity it did. It’s so sad.

@ALD83 - I feel the same. Like most people on this thread I was really saddened when I saw this and can't get my head around such pointless vandalism but prison doesn't feel like the right thing here, but TBH I don't know what else does, It's a really tough one.

they are knobs and they cut down a tree. You have to be careful to not have to severe a sentence or this will be insulting to those that are victims of violence or assault whose perpetrators have received lesser sentences. Community service including free planting obvs.

@ALD83there wouldn’t have been an expensive ten day trial if the perpetrators hadn’t pleaded not guilty, concocted a whole series of bullshit lies and tried to throw each other under the bus. They had the choice to be honest, hold up their hands and admit they did it. There has to be a harsher sentence than if they had admitted guilt, that’s a basic principle in sentencing guidelines and it’s important as a deterrent to discourage those who know they are guilty from wasting time and money on a lengthy trial.

@ALD83 they need to be punished. They won’t get 10 years, but they should serve at least 2 behind bars, so a 4 year sentence.
Sends a message to the inconsiderate scum that are a plague to society.
I wouldn’t mind if they got the full 10 years.

As for the replacement tree, dig it out and move another young but good sized on in. It’s not beyond the engineering skills of man to do it. My neighbor got a huge tree delivered. Cost him £40k.

A sentence that includes jail time.

I hope they get a jail sentence. It wasn't just a tree, it was an important site to our area and there's evidence they deliberately fuelled it in such a way to damage Hadrian's Wall when it came down.

But isn't that usually a neighbour's tree that's cutting off their light or damaging the foundations of their house or something? This tree was a long way from where anyone lives.

Maybe they should have to lug around the stone for the repairs on Hadrian's Wall.

Not really.

Usually it’s an entitled idiot who buys a house and then starts harassing the neighbours to chop down their trees.

Does you neighbour live over a mile from the nearest road? The problem with putting in a mature replacement is access. Anything that couldn't be taken by quad bike and trailer would have to be helicoptered in and who would pay? I doubt the culprits have the ability to stump up thousands.

This wasn't some spur of the moment ill thought out prank done on impulse, it was planned and deliberate. They had to travel miles to the site, lug heavy equipment a mile to the tree. They intentionally chose a stormy night so no-one was at the tree (night photographer or campers) and to mask to the noise.

My fervent hope is to never hear about this story again and that the wheels of justice are left to quietly get on with their turning.

I never even heard of the tree before they cut it down.

I feel like they should have to do conservation work.

I don't think that most people need to be deterred from doing shit like this tbh.
Its hardly something most people want to do

They should get a long prison sentence. That tree was part of our national heritage.

I wonder how long that would take and the cost of materials and having it supervised. When you get sentenced to do community payback you turn up at council at appointed time. You are then divided between the supervisors. Sometimes you go off and maintain residential gardens, clean off vandalism, paint railings, community projects can ask for free labour to clear spaces and set up
community gardens type stuff.

Essentially the punishment is stuff thst needs doing anyway and the free labour element balances out the cost of a supervisor so the scheme is cost effective.

You start handing out bespoke punishments and it’ll cost a fortune.

Not for too long, though - only for the same amount of time as it takes for a replacement sycamore sapling to reach the same level of maturity as the one they chopped down...

I was very, very upset and angry about what they did. But whilst a bit of me wants them locked up, I am realistic enough to realise this will not rehabilitate them, and it will cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

The best punishment? A full ten year ban on them accessing and using the internet, social media, and smart digital devices. This would be a far better punishment, the isolation and inconvenience priceless.

It is hard to believe that they could be so stupid. Absolute fools.

I hope they carry the consequences and shame the rest of their life.

Even if they don't get a custodial sentence, the older one will have thrown away his business and his livelihood.

He might be amazing at what he does, but who on earth would even want to use him again?

Whilst what they did was terrible I’ll be annoyed if they get a longer sentence than rapist pedophiles and sex offenders. Which I’m sure they will to appease the baying mobs

Baying mobs?

How charming.

Well yes - people seem far more angry about this than when humans are hurt, and sentences are often harsher to please public opinion.

People are usually perfectly capable of
understanding that it’s not just the one or the other. Caring about the butchered tree doesn’t stop me from being concerned about violence inflicted on humans.

If you cannot, you can always campaign for harsher sentencing on whatever you feel is justified.

Using insults just because someone is capable of having more than one thought is silly.

Yes, that seems fair.

What insult did I use?

Did you think that calling people who want a proper sentence “baying mob” was complimentary?