One of the two former friends accused of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree anonymously rang police to blame his co-accused, a jury heard. The tree had grown in a dip on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland for more than 100 years before it was felled in a “moronic mission” in the early hours of 28 September 2023, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.

Daniel Michael Graham, 39, from Carlisle, and Adam Carruthers, 32, from Wigton in Cumbria, each deny two counts of criminal damage relating to the tree and the Roman Wall. The felling was filmed on Mr Graham's phone and the pair took a wedge cut of the trunk home as a “trophy”, jurors have heard. But the following year – on August 23, a man made an anonymous call to Northumbria Police, the court heard today.

They are jointly charged with causing £622,191 of criminal damage to the much-photographed Northumberland tree.

They are also charged with causing £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The wall and the tree belong to the National Trust.

The man told the call handler he had information about the Sycamore Gap tree felling but wanted to remain anonymous as he did “not want repercussions” before naming Carruthers as being responsible for the crime.

Det Insp Calum Meikle, who is in charge of the police inquiry,  told jurors he listened to a recording of the 10-minute call and instantly recognised Graham's voice, with further probing revealing his phone had made a call to the police's 101 service at that exact time.

Andrew Gurney, for Carruthers, played the 10 minute call to the court.

The male caller, speaking to a call-handler, said: “I tried to phone Cumbria Police to report some information, they said I need to speak to Northumbria Police.”

The caller then declined to give his name or number and when asked what the call was about replied: “Sycamore Gap.”

When asked what the information was, he replied: “One of the lads that done it, Adam Carruthers, has got the saws back in his possession.

“They were being held by another male by the name of Lindsay Dalgleish. They were being held in Annan.”

The caller said two of the saws were now in Wigton, at the home of Carruthers’ mother.

He claimed that Mr Dalgleish had another eight saws “and they have the same oil in them” as the one used to cut down the tree, adding that “a part of a tree” was being kept with the saws.

He said they had possibly been moved to a business called Cumbria Turf but that “two days ago they were in Wigton”.

The call handler responded: “Oh dear, awful. Just awful.”

She asked the caller if they could take his mobile number and give him a password to use if police wanted to contact him again, but he said: “I don’t want no repercussions. If I get any more information I’ll do the same again.”

He went on to say that Carruthers had a number of firearms on the Kirkbride yard where he lived in a caravan.

Mr Meikle, the officer in charge of the case, told the court that no firearms were found when that property was searched.

Asked by Mr Gurney whether the purpose of the call was “to drop Adam Carruthers and Lindsay Dalgleish in it”, Mr Meikle said: “That could be a conclusion that could be drawn by the court.”

Earlier, Mr Gurney asked the detective about Graham insinuating that Carruthers was guilty.

Mr Meikle replied: “When you read the interviews it tends to fluctuate between he is saying that Adam Carruthers is responsible, he also contradicts that by saying he doesn’t know.”

Mr Gurney said: “He (Graham) says in his interview that he is not a grass and he won’t name anyone, then goes on to suggest he doesn’t want to ruin someone’s life because he has a young family and it is a well known fact he (Carruthers) has a young family.”

Mr Meikle replied: “Again, he has a young family.”

The trial was told how the police investigation into the damage included people who had issues with the National Trust, and even a young boy who reported his brother.

Mr Meikle said he looked into the claims about Mr Dalgleish, who has been named by Graham as a suspect during the trial, but was “satisfied that he wasn’t involved”.

The trial continues.