Two men who felled the iconic ‘Sycamore Gap’ tree in northern England in 2023 have each been sentenced to four years and three months in prison. The tree, located between two hills, was known from a Robin Hood film, among other things.
For felling the tree, the men each received four years and three months in prison, according to the BBC, among others. On top of that, they received six months in prison for damage to Hadrian’s Wall. This Roman wall runs right next to the spot where the tree stood.
The two sentences run concurrently and are therefore not added together. According to the judge, the pair must spend at least 40 percent of the time in prison before they are eligible for early release.
The felling of the tree led to a lot of commotion in England. The almost two-hundred-year-old tree stood in a picturesque location, close to the Scottish border.
The men, who filmed themselves sawing through the tree, call it “a stupid act” that they performed “dead drunk.”
According to the National Trust, the heritage organization that manages the area, the trunk of the tree is still viable and a new tree can grow from it in the long term. It will take more than a hundred years before it is as large as the original specimen again.
