One of the UK’s most photographed trees, located near Hadrian’s Wall in north-east England, was “deliberately felled” overnight, with a 16-year-old boy detained by British police.
“The Northumberland National Park Authority can confirm that the famous Sycamore Gap tree has unfortunately fallen overnight”, the park manager said in a statement. “We have reason to believe it was deliberately brought down,” he added.
The 16-year-old, who was arrested, will assist authorities with the investigation. Police are appealing to the public for information about what happened. Now only one foot remains of the trunk of what was named ‘tree of the year’ in 2016.
Chief Inspector Kevin Waring of Northumbria Police said it was a tree “a world-famous landmark” and that its demolition “caused shock, sadness and anger in the local community and beyond”.
Located near the Roman-era wall that was erected to prevent invading hordes of barbarians, this majestic tree appeared in the film “Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves“, by Kevin Costner, in 1991. That is why it is also called the “Robin Hood tree”.
Source: DN
