The tree, which stood in a picturesque dip along Hadrian’s Wall, the 70-mile fortification that once guarded the northern edge of the Roman Empire, was found illegally cut down in September 2023. Planted in the 1800s, the towering sycamore was one of Britain’s most photographed trees and featured in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

The tree stood for nearly 150 years before Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers set out on what a prosecutor called a 'moronic mission' to fell the majestic sycamore.