{"id":5280,"date":"2025-05-13T08:13:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T08:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/?p=5280"},"modified":"2025-05-13T11:36:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T11:36:39","slug":"sycamore-gap-pair-quizzed-over-homophobic-attack-days-before-tree-was-felled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/13\/sycamore-gap-pair-quizzed-over-homophobic-attack-days-before-tree-was-felled\/","title":{"rendered":"Sycamore Gap pair quizzed over homophobic attack days before tree was felled"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, cut down the tree at Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023 (Picture: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two men who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree were investigated after a man was doused in icing sugar in an alleged homophobic attack.<\/p>\n

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, cut down the tree at Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023. <\/p>\n

But nine days earlier a man reported being subject to verbal abuse and attacked with icing sugar at a layby in Cumbria<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He told the BBC<\/a>: ‘There was a knock on my window. I looked across and there was this black jeep, so I wound my window down and the passenger got quite homophobic with me.’ <\/p>\n

A bag of sugar was then allegedly thrown into his car before the other vehicle drove off. <\/p>\n

The victim reported the incident to the police the same night, telling officers the registration number.<\/p>\n

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The pair caused a public outcry after they felled the tree at Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023 (Picture: Owen Humphreys\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Adam Carruthers is awaiting sentencing for felling the tree (Picture: CPS\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But he was unable to confidently identify the attackers, and officers did not check CCTV. <\/p>\n

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With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel<\/a> is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

Simply\u00a0click on this link<\/a><\/strong>, select \u2018Join Chat\u2019 and you\u2019re in! Don’t forget to turn on notifications!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Cumbria Police said they had investigated the incident, but the registration number given to them – which differed from that of Graham’s car by one letter – had not even been in the county. <\/p>\n

Two men were arrested in connection with the attack in April 2024, with video evidence found in one of the suspect’s phones. <\/p>\n

The victim was shown the footage, which consisted of 10 to 12 videos of various men suffering homophobic abuses and having things thrown at their vehicles. <\/p>\n

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Daniel Graham was questioned alongside Carruthers over the homophobic attacks (Picture: Owen Humphreys\/PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking of one video in particular, he said: ‘I could see the fear in [the victim’s] eyes. It was quite nasty, and it was all homophobic.’ <\/p>\n

In December the case was presented to the Crown prosecution Service relating to the attacks, but they decided against bringing charged to identify the attackers as too much time has lapsed. <\/p>\n

The victim challenged their decision, which meant he had to be told the names of the suspects. <\/p>\n

Police told him the CPS’s decision was ‘disappointing’ and name Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers as the suspects.<\/p>\n

He said: ‘I knew the names were in my mind somewhere. I Googled it and my words were “oh my God”, I realised who they were.’ <\/p>\n

The initial ruling to not charge the pair has still been upheld. <\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, cut down the tree at Hadrian’s Wall in September 2023 (Picture: Reuters) The two men who cut down the Sycamore Gap tree were<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Sycamore Gap pair quizzed over homophobic attack days before tree was felled<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5287,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions\/5287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}