Was there a statement from either of them on why? I know why is really the hardest answer to get from someone but did they just hate the tree. Did their sisters turn down a marriage proposal from them at that site?
Two men behind ‘senseless’ felling of Sycamore Gap tree jailed for more than four years
Submitted 8 months ago by Davriellelouna@lemmy.world to unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/15/sycamore-gap-tree-felling-men-jailed
Comments
MehBlah@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Tangentism@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
One claimed he was so drunk he doesn’t remember losing up his range rover, driving to the parking spot then carrying the equipment to the tree, cutting it down with precision not expected of someone blind drunk, carried all the kit back to the car, drive home then had a moment of clarity.
The other one said he’s such a weak idiot that the other one led him astray
tinned_tomatoes@feddit.uk 8 months ago
No motive other than being sad losers who wanted the fake glory of being the one to chop down a beloved tree.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You should look up some of the messages the court case revealed.
They took joy in making people miserable. They knew targeting a loved cultural landmark would make people angry and miserable, so that’s what they did.
Their motivation was purely to hurt.
Horse@lemmygrad.ml 8 months ago
these men aren’t a danger to the public and aren’t likely to do it again, there is no reason for a prison sentence
just give them a very long period of community service, maybe tree relatedTangentism@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
The sentencing is to slow that wilful destruction of ancient trees and heritage sites will not go unpunished.
They are a pair of cunts that destroyed a beloved tree and I disagree, if they hadn’t been jailed, they would very likely do something similar again seeing as they revelled in the media attention and took keepsakes.
Horse@lemmygrad.ml 8 months ago
i both hate these pricks for killing the tree and am ideologically biased against at least one of them because he’s a petite-bourgeois scumbag and i still believe that they wouldn’t be stupid enough to do something similar again
having them perform service for the community is both cheaper, improves the community, and takes the sheen off their notoriety if they do indeed still revel in the attention prison as a punishment is backwards medieval thinking, it should be reserved purely for people who are a genuine danger to the public or are extremely likely to repeat their crime
neonred@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Definitely not harsh enough. They should have gotten AT LEAST 12 years each. And even that could never make up the damage they have done. 12 is too mild, 4 entirely laughable.
Berstrrs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
For what?
All they done is… Cut a tree.
Think about it for a sec. Just a tree.
Tree surgeons do this on a daily basis
neonred@lemmy.world 8 months ago
That tree was healthy and and a very important cultural specimen.
Just because construction workers raze builings on a daily basis does not mean they should nilly willy bulldoze Manchester Cathredal for lulz in a nighttime flashmob.
bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You obviously don’t. You were advocating for practically zero punishment for it, and find incessant lying in court to be completely fine too.
neonred@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Of course this is nonwithstanding other environmental crimes should be prosecuted, just as hard.
rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Very, very, very harsh. Too harsh.
Would love to see just a single one of the besuited cunts who are polluting our rivers and air get this kind of treatment by their mates in the courts. Never gonna happen tho - this has been a rich man’s world for centuries.
Tangentism@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Nope. They’re a pair of cunts that deserve longer and it’s not a zero sum game. We can, and should, have be jailing both
G4Z@feddit.uk 8 months ago
From what I understand, they really fucked around the court and lied about it which is why the sentence is harsh. If they had just admitted it, they probably would have got a suspended sentence.
TheKingBee@lemmy.world 8 months ago
i disagree with this being too harsh, but do agree with the second point about wishing to see this type of punishment extended to the industrial villains, who will never see it, deserving this type of punishment.
wewbull@feddit.uk 8 months ago
We’re in the middle of a prison crisis. We don’t have room for people who chopped down a tree, even if it was a really pretty one.
rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 8 months ago
That’s fair. I understand the frustration and anger at these two and what they did - it was senseless and I was definitely a bit heartbroken to read about the felling at first - but four years is so long and they’re going to come out worse for it, in my opinion.
Babalugats@feddit.uk 8 months ago
www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2dlr05rr1lo gov.uk/…/anglian-water-fined-300-000-after-pollut… theguardian.com/…/southern-water-fined-330000-for… watermagazine.co.uk/…/anglian-water-fined-over-ha…
Not one CEO properly held accountable by the law (I could have listed another 30 different cases easily. Just searching polluted river and killed fish fined uk)
rayquetzalcoatl@lemmy.world 8 months ago
“this kind of treatment” meaning harsh sentences. Fining a company means very little 🤷♂️
x00z@lemmy.world 8 months ago
a 150 year sentence for killing a 150 year old tree would be nice
HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 8 months ago
Given a sycamore can like for 500 years although 300 is more common.
If that the maths we follow. Potential live lost to the tree of 350 years is more reasonable.
Nasan@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Multiply by 2.5 given the celebrity status of the tree.
bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
4 years!
Of course it’s fucked up and whatever, but this feels like a populist sentence. 4 years is an incredible long time. In what way is this adequate for the crime. Like mentioned before, there is incredible damage being done to nature in the name of business, very rarely somebody is getting a little bit of blowback, and these two guys, who really don’t have much potential to destroy anything more are sent away as an example? To whom? The generally misbehaving public?
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
This was deliberate, planned, and done purely to destroy something others enjoyed.
I’d say it’s about right.
Berstrrs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Is building a housing estate on a green belt or a park not deliberate, planned, and done purely to destroy something others enjoyed?
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Cool yeah, let’s have short sentences for destroying cultural landmarks. I’m sure that’ll be fine.
wewbull@feddit.uk 8 months ago
They shouldn’t be inside at all. We don’t have the prison space to spend on things like this. It should be dealt with in the community.
NickwithaC@lemmy.world 8 months ago
In what way is this adequate for the crime
What is the maximum sentence for damage of public property?
ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Cool, now do the same for Water Company executives that shit all over our nature as well.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 8 months ago
nope. only for charismatic megaflora/fauna
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world 8 months ago
nope. only for
charismatic megaflora/faunathe poors.FTFY
TimewornTraveler@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
corpos rape the planet: giggling sunflower
two dudes kill a tree: angry sunflower