Men who cut down the sycamore in Sycamore Gap in court

They knew it was much loved that's why they cut it down,nasty pieces of work

The tree was valued using the Capital Asset Value of Amenity Trees (CAVAT) method. CAVAT provides a basis for managing trees in the UK as public assets rather than liabilities.

It is applicable to individual cases, where the value of a single tree needs to be expressed in monetary terms.

And you can read all about it and calculate it out your self here!!
www.southampton.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s15821/Members%20Room%20Document%202.pdf

For the OP (MOnica) did you deliberately or accidentally miss the word "allegedly" from your headline? And the pages of comments discussing what a terrible act of vandalism it was, well, indeed so, but have they actually been found guilty?

If so, I must have missed it, but as they're appearing at a higher court next month, I don't think I did.

Don't get me wrong, IF the police have actually apprehended the right people, then I'd have them doing Community Service for just about ever, and their entire range of State Benefits would be forfeited (in MY country, that would be society's response to any anti-social crimes).

But the Police aren't always right, by any means, are they?

DrWatson I accept your point and aplogise, I will be more careful in future.

My reaction was similar to Lollins.

Oreo I think the Sycamore tree was one of the many things people visited when they holidayed in Northumberland.

There will always be a few obsessives who travel around ticking film locations off a list, and wouldgo there for no other purpose, but when I go to an area on holiday, even if I have one 'must see' I have many more 'let 's go and see' on my list as well.

Until it was chopped down I'd never heard of it. Just seems mean to destroy something that many others admired/get pleasure from

The tree shouldn’t have been cut down, but the perpetrators are in court and will receive their punishment. However I think there are many, many crimes that are much worse and upset me much more. Primarily crimes against children. They really upset me.

maddyone I am not sure I follow your thinking.

Obviously there is a hierarchy of crime, and violence to humans (and animals) will come first, but it doesn't mean that all other crime can be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders.

Much research as been done to show that the physical environment deeply affects people, even when they are not aware of this and that the presence, for example of old and listed buildings in an area improves the mental health of those living in the area compared with those living in areas devoid of these buildings.

That sycamore, had iconic status. It had featured in a film and as a result people had sought it out. Many had chosen it as the site for marriage proposals. As a tree, it was just a tree, but it was embedded in many peoples psyche as the site of a special event in their life. This is why the tree had such a high montary value when assessing its amenity value and contribution to the landscape at that oint.

Of course dmage to humans rates hghly, but too often people make these sort of comparisons, as if nothine else counts. Perhaps someone seeing this tree in context, calmed by a day out in glorious countryside, then did not go home and assault his wife and family. It is quite possible

Of course there are layers of crimes, and this one comes low on my list tbh.
It’s vandalism against vegetation.
I accept that others have fond memories of this particular tree but most people in England have never heard of it.
If found guilty of criminal damage they will be punished.
It won’t keep me awake at night.

Why should it?

I agree in the grand scheme of things it's not a major crime. I do wonder though what went through the minds of the alleged perpetrators to commit such a senseless act of vandalism. Maybe I'm being kind and assuming they are capable of rational thought.

The have now been identified, charged and sentenced. Is four years in prison too lenient or too harsh?

Prison was not appropriate. If ever there was a case for community service this was it. They should planting and tending parks and gardens, learning to appreciate nature and learning new skills. Just think of the good things they could have been doing in their locality as a much more suitable punishment.

I think it is madness to imprison these two men. Community service planting a very large number of trees each would have been far more appropriate in my opinion. Prisons are overfull ++ and very expensive to run.

mumofmadboys

I think it is madness to imprison these two men. Community service planting a very large number of trees each would have been far more appropriate in my opinion. Prisons are overfull ++ and very expensive to run.

Yes

Ilovecheese

Prison was not appropriate. If ever there was a case for community service this was it. They should planting and tending parks and gardens, learning to appreciate nature and learning new skills. Just think of the good things they could have been doing in their locality as a much more suitable punishment.

But there is no guarantee that planting trees and tending parks would have any effect on their attitudes to nature.

It is just a probable that they would just see it as a chore to be done and got over with, they might even congratulate themselves on getting off with such a light sentence.

One of them worked in property maintenance and mechanics, and also repaired machinery at a turf farm, The other He was the owner of a groundwork company involved in landscaping, so they were alredy working with plants and nature.

They were just 2 stupid, not very bright men who got drunk and thought this would be a funny thing to do.

They are not the first to think like that and will certaainly not be the last. I can think of a very similar incident occurring in the village I used to live in, which involved deliberate damage to an old listed building, done in the middle of the night by a drunken farmer who was refused service at a pub, nothing clandestine about it, he woke up half the village doing it.

What you all say👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Community service was the way to go. Prisons are bursting but this judge thought the felling of a tree, however ‘iconic’ was worth giving a four year sentence even tho nobody has ever been imprisoned before for this.
Judged and sentenced by the court of public opinion, what a precedent to set!

And I further ponder, if this had been done by a couple of Uni students as a stunt, what sentence they would have received.

Oreo

And I further ponder, if this had been done by a couple of Uni students as a stunt, what sentence they would have received.

Do you honestly think that two uni students would have even considered doing this as a stunt?

MayBee70

Oreo

And I further ponder, if this had been done by a couple of Uni students as a stunt, what sentence they would have received.

Do you honestly think that two uni students would have even considered doing this as a stunt?

Absolutely

MayBee70

Oreo

And I further ponder, if this had been done by a couple of Uni students as a stunt, what sentence they would have received.

Do you honestly think that two uni students would have even considered doing this as a stunt?

Yes, there have always been quite intelligent people who do not think through their actions.

I can remember student Rag Weeks and I can remeember being horrified at the vandalistic actions some students thought amusing.

Quote Oreo Thu 17-Jul-25 16:03:50
And I further ponder, if this had been done by a couple of Uni students as a stunt, what sentence they would have received

Comparing university students with married men in mid and late 30’s

MayBee70

Oreo

And I further ponder, if this had been done by a couple of Uni students as a stunt, what sentence they would have received.

Do you honestly think that two uni students would have even considered doing this as a stunt?

Yes.

When I remember what some of the medical students got up to.

What about the famous Bullingdon Club at Oxford that Johnson and Cameron belonged to.

They will serve around 20 months maximum (40% of the sentence).