Two men are due to stand trial for illegally cutting down a famous ancient tree on Hadrian's Wall in northern England. The defendants, aged 38 and 31, are charged with criminal damage to property and damage to the wall, which was built on the orders of Roman Emperor Hadrian from 122 AD, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Accordingly, Daniel Michael Graham (38) and Adam Carruthers (31) will appear at Newcastle Magistrates' Court on May 15. They were already provisionally arrested in October.
Standing majestically between two hills near Hadrian's Wall, the sycamore cape tree, known as the Sycamore Cape Tree, was considered a tourist attraction and a popular subject for nature photographers. It was Tree of the Year in Great Britain in 2016. The sycamore maple appears in a key scene in the 1991 adventure film “Robin Hood – King of Thieves” starring Kevin Costner, hence the name “Robin Hood's tree”. He was also featured in the music video for Bryan Adams' “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”.
A 150-year-old tree was illegally felled in 2023 when a storm struck on a September night. Investigators are trying to unravel the motive behind this vandalism. It is currently being tested to see if the tree can regrow from its base or from its seeds.
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