Graham must have had a big paper round. He looks 50+

Ouch!

A revision to the ending of The Giving Tree is in order inspired by these derelicts. In the new version, humans have gone too far and it’s time for paybark.

Massive over reaction and hugely inconsistent compared with other similar cases of illegal felling naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/about-us/new...

The more I read about this story the syca i become.

Bleeding heart liberal. They're clearly treecidivists.

They deserve ten years of hard arbour. I'm sycamore of these 'jokes' 😉

In the old days they would have been given the birch for this.

A good old fashion tree lynching is reasonable . . . Hang 'Em High! 😉

Fellons both of them

Maybe then they will turn over a new leaf.

They're clearly treecidivists. clearly a joke

Leaf it alone lads; tgese tree puns are sapping the life out of me.

Branching out from your usual political commentary?

Yes, but let's not forget that the Tate brothers are still free. Sure, they haven't felled a very important tree.... 😠

Four years doesn't seem excessive to me for the criminal damage of the historic and beloved tree as well as the wall beside it, which made up a Unesco world heritage site.

It is really excessive. It means that if society is really disturbed about a certain criminal act, you get a much higher sentence. Punishment should be related to the deed (felling a tree) and with some restraint the disturbance in society. But here the disturbance alone defines the punishment

👎🤬🤬🤬👿👿👿

4 years for felling an evasive tree species on a trad demarcation line.

What branch of the law would this be covered by?

As one who lives a stones throw from the wall I do miss the sight of the tree but sycamore is a none native tree that grows and spreads profusely and can kill animals,to imprison them is to bow to public outcry like others have said tree planting more suitable trees would have been more appropriate.

Sycamore isn't native but it grows just across the water in Europe. It also supports massive aphid populations which are an important food source for blue tits & other woodland birds. Never heard of it killing animals? It's about the only tree which grows well in some coastal urban locations.

Sycamore seedlings can be lethal to horses, as they contain a toxin called hypoglycin A (HGA), which disrupts energy production in muscle cells and can lead to a severe and often fatal condition known as atypical myopathy.

I didn't know that. But then horses aren't native either are they? Maybe horsey people should just take care about where the site their paddock

I felt tempted to say 'hanging's too ood for them'!

We are now in a nation where sentences are handed down not because they are justified but on the basis of how loud the mob shouts.

Counterargument: Screw these illiterate vandals.

Did anyone from Toby Carvery go to prison for cutting down that tree in Enfield?

One concurs. They should plant trees as part of their community service for…. 🤔…… 5 to 10 years. I mean the broad leaf type that once covered Scotland & Northern England.

It was a big case to be fair, important enough for the Special Branch to head, they didn't leaf anything to chance.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yewsual Suspects.

Were they brought to justice by the special branch?

Took me a minute before I twigged

They'll be pining for freedom now.

🤭

Leaves a lot to be desired. Root and branch reform needed.

Seems like a rather light sentence to me.

These two assholes are the reason why we have to hide the identity and location of the oldest trees in the world. Because some dickhead would track them down and murder them. It's a sentence that is simultaneously too much and not enough.

Yes discussing this last night, just get them planting trees, trees and more trees. As we have limited space in prisons, let's put the dangerous people in them and educate the ignorant ones.

Some people plant trees for a living. Other volunteers plant trees as a positive act of goodwill. Not sure that it being treated as a punishment is a good thing.

I doubt tree vandals would want to do it but it might eventually help them see the error of their ways!

I think they might be better employed being forced to pick up dogshit bags from the trees. 6 months off their sentence for every ton they collect.

They can do that aswell. 💩

And there would be costly supervision.

I'd keep them in there until a sapling planted in the same spot grows to the same size.

You’re barking up the wrong tree there!

What a ridiculous sentence

On face value it sounds excessive but as then as many listeners said: there was something about this crime that went to the root of our sensibilities and made the sap rise. I would have given them a sycamore seed in a pot and only released them when it reached the height of the tree they cut down.

4 years for vandalism though. Brutal

They'll serve less than two. And unlike most vandalism it was a premeditated and planned attack.

Maybe, but I think it will be quite poplar.

The sentences are a deterrent to anyone else thinking it’s ok to do what they did.

Maybe they'd be better off in the insane a-xylem... Nailed it! 🤣

20 yrs would seem more fitting

Prison is very expensive and rarely produces improved citizens. Why not have them planting trees instead? It's hard labour and they could plant thousands of trees in the time they would have wasted in prison. If you think that's soft then you haven't planted trees in rocky ground or during winter.

That's poor

I am sick-a-more than ever that those two should’ve been leafed behind bars longer—what a tree-mendous injustice!

Wit.

No, it should have been longer for these imbeciles who think it’s a laugh to fell a 100 year old tree.

It's done now James. Leaf it be.

Holly unacceptable behaviour.

That'll teach them not to get trunk.

Leaf it out.

I do hope they're thoroughly ash-shamed of themselves.

Getting alder doesn't make you any wiser it seems.

Having seen '28 Years Later' feature Sycamore Gap-let the zombies sort 'em out.

Tree fellers. What happened to the other one?

Extinction Rebellion’s five year sentences for stopping traffic is excessive

Communitree service not good enough for Lumb and Lumber.

Look at at Huw 6 months suspended or if you assault a police office ? Our prison population as double in the last 30 years but overall violent crime rates are down.

If they had thrown soup over it or spray painted it, they would be doing 10yrs for Terrorism. They should think themselves lucky, it could have been way worse 😂

Go and sit in the corner and think about what you have done.

Don't mess with the copse.

I thought I'd join in with a pun, but given the sheer number I'll leave it.

I'd leaf right now if I were you

🤣 but seriously. 4 years of tree planting and tending supervised by a wildlife trust would have been good. In 4 years they could plant and help grow a lot of trees!

A 500 year old tree is NOT a flipping Tesla. I don’t support heavy sentences for defacing property or blocking traffic. But this was the murder of a venerable and sentient being that frankly enjoyed a life that outstrips our puny lives. I think it’s time to recognize that.

Too soon. And I like 15-20 years myself. It’s a murder. Let’s call it what it is.

Malicious vandalism & no hint of remorse? Nah the sentence was good.

Should have been longer!

A 450-yo oak is felled without permission by a Toby Carvery (don’t eat there), who falsely claimed it was "dead". A tree alive when The Gunpowder Plot was hatched, which supports a web of 2000+ species, is in pieces. Legal protection for heritage trees needed. enfielddispatch.co.uk/toby-carvery...

Are you saying they should have only got tree years?

Too lenient, in my view.

It's an attack on nature and society. It had become a place of marriage proposals, family visits and even the location of ashes to be spread. The place is much loved by many thousands of people. www.hgc.hosted.york.ac.uk/the-life-and... bsky.app/profile/timh... 🤔👇

Well we got to the root of it

It was plane to see that they were knotty.

Thanks to everyone for the comments!! 😆

These days say you're English yeh... and you chop down a well established and beloved heritage landmark... they'll throw you in jail. #treespeech

Madness. We agree on most things James. But this and a firm handshake are totally wrong. The average prison term for burglary is 2.5 years. Are we really putting this above burglary?

Our prisons are overcrowded Why not community service working on conservation and tree planting projects? That would both teach them a lesson and be beneficial

*Groan*

Don't be such a sap. It's a fir sentence.

Where is the other one? I heard there were tree fellas. Also, what about Mitchell's and Butlers who destroyed a similar tree in Enfield.

Absolutely agree. Much more heinous crimes have had lesser sentences, even probation. They are obviously not affluent and well connected.

Sentence seems light to me. They should have to plant 10k trees each by hand as community service upon release.

I would have locked them up for 10.

Most idiots would tbf

Came late to this and only just twigged what you’re doing. Now leaf it alone.

39!!? Old fellas got some city miles on 'im, MAN ALIVE

Excessively on the lower end, yes. 👿

There is no groan emoji in this app.

🙄

With prisons in the parlour state they currently are a custodial sentence seems excessive. Sure more appropriate community work could be found.

*Parlous*

While harsh this sentence insures any wood-be copycats think twice!

It only takes one match to burn a thousand treeeeeeees!

Doesn't seem enough to me. I read the guardian article and assholes like these can't be rehabilitated.

That's amusing, but, the crime isn't. It's basically felony vandalism of a public monument. The tree is going to be dead for a long time . . . these criminals deserve their punishment which is actually on the lenient side. This sentence needs to broadcast deterrent!

They should be there.

A bit of a saw point...

Yes, community service, planting trees, would have been better, more symbolic & provide better rehabilitation!!

Oh Jesus James.

Barking up the wrong tree with this one.

Maybe even a trunk ated sentence

It's totally excessive, not sure it warrants a custodial sentence at all.

Next time a kid writes on a school desk, custodial time! We all have memories of school desks, people got great news, fell in love and proposed to their childhood sweethearts over that desk. Emotional damage 4 years Absolutely ridiculous

Leaf it out James!!!

Hard disagree. The sentence should have been longer. The two idiots cannot be trusted to plant or care for trees or any other living thing.

Back by Oak Demand 🌳

🤣🤣🤣

You could have twigged something there, or maybe you were barking up the wrong tree. But in the end you will get to the root of the matter as long as you don't see the wood from the trees.

They really as thick as two short planks

Wonder if they will enrol in a carpentry course while in sing sing

Let's just leaf it there

I see yew have logged on & given us your poplar opinion. I'm off the feed my pig, because this morning I forgot to give mahogany. Life's a beech.

Would treehabilitation be poplar?

Surely, they should stump up a contribution towards planting more tree's.

Stumping up would cut into the root cause.

Surely, they wood chip in rather than doing time.

You'd think. But better to not go against the grain in the first place.

Quite possibly, but not awarding a custodial sentence might well give a green light to 'developers' who believe themselves thwarted by the historic environment.

Not surprised, a longer sentence was needed because of the importance of deterrance in this case You aren't going to jail if you cut down a sapling the council just planted in your street But you need to be sure that if you cut down a culturally significant tree, you are going to jail

They are far right they should be locked for life

Doubtless the local branch manager will organise the works

Maybe if they appeal they will get it cut down

Weird, I expected it to be tree fellas.

Typically people get less time in jail for killing someone with a car. There's not much consistency in our justice system.

Wish they did the same to people who kill hen harrier and other raptors on moorland estates!

It’s the way yew tell them

Boom tish!

I have read the comments on this thread. Very drole. The point about that tree is what it mean't to people. It wasn't just a tree to some people. The sentencing of 3yrs is excessive, imo, but if the justice system found it to be malicious, I'm not sure what the judge could have done, under UK Law.

Sentencing based on the popularity of the damaged item? Absolute madness.

That's why they targeted it though.

Sentencing is based on clear guidelines. Courts have very little room for manoeuvre.

Meanwhile, the people dumping 💩 in our rivers and on our beaches get bonuses.

Surely that’s just giving idiots an olive branch

I think the primates inhabiting the trees might be a bit upset that they have to share a branch with such brainless creatures.

I hope they’re not pineing in the gallows

I blame th judge. He clearly ate something bad the night before and was Sycamore than he's ever been...

They should escape to another country and seek a-xylem.

Groan. More seriously, they should be offered the option, while inside, to study online for a degree in nature conservation. If they complete it successfully in less than their full 4.5 years they get out early and can be useful. Might need some basic education first.

Well that's a good option for avoiding the £60,000 student loan law abiding young conservationists have to pay for the same thing. And I rather doubt they'd meet the entry requirements. Plus they'll serve less than two.

They’ll get out earlier than that anyway.

Yew would have thought so

Ah, the next Reform candidates.

Leaf it out James. What a sappy response. Thought you'd run rings around that headline but this is worthy of something a branch manager would say.

Community service would have better served society. Hard labour picking up litter in hi-vis vests. The sentence serves one element well and that is as a deterrent.

I know you're saying not to equate this sentence with other sentences but I find it disgraceful that the quiddity of a tree is causing more outrage amongst the population than women getting raped or SA'd. Just a thought.

Community service. 400 hours, doing gardening work, being in nature & learning why it's so important would have been a better use of tax payer money & their time.

It’s a fair sentence, certainly not an arbor-tree judgement.

Are you saying these two fellers should have it cut?

I don’t condone criminal damage. What is also criminal is the £630,000 cost to sort the mess out. I understand the wall cost £1000 to repair which isn’t included in the £630,000. I would like a breakdown please.

They are clearly morons but 4 years for a tree!!!??? That’s more than people typically get for killing someone by dangerous driving. A single tree more important than human life is an odd place to end up.

Get your coat!

Boo...get off the stage.

Been busy all day, but anyone doubting the quiddity of the tree should take a look at Carol Malia's face when she originally reported the crime on Look North. A combination of grief and rage.

... & it's been interesting to see the lack of comment from Reform's Darren Grimes (Dep Leader Durham County Council). His constituency is just 30 miles away. Could it be because it rather disproves their assertion that "burn the hotels" Lucy Connoly's sentence was disproportionately excessive?

There are women victims across the nation wonder how they can force society to see their rapists,domestic abusers, sexual assaulters...and sentence them as harshly as these men who cut down a beloved tree.

First you have to admit you have a problem, the treehab is possible

Think sentence is correct. Impact on tourism and local econony in surrounding area very important. Visitor centre built in vicinity, pubs, b&B etc. Apart from fact that people cherished the tree and what it meant to them.

I'm going out on a limb here but I think they deserve it.

Sentencing today seems to be unrelated to the crime. I accept that there are ranges for sentences, but 4 yrs seems more than the punishment for the crime.

If you waste everyone’s time and taxpayers’ money insisting on a trial when you are clearly guilty, expect not to be treated leniently.

The judge explained in detail how she calculated the sentence. You can watch it on YouTube.

Fair enough, but I worry about the media influencing harsh sentences. The judge can explain all she wants, but 4 yrs for one pretty tree!

It's about more than that but the "outrage" caused by the media was part of it.

James ( I love you) when you try to calm callers by saying “it’s only me”, do any other callers get a mental image of Harry Enfield’s interfering old person saying only me

(In my best Cork accent)Imagine if there had been tree fellas, not two! I'll get my coat.

I'm just sycamore coverage of these two fellers! 🫣

I personally think it’s sycamore weighty sentence wasn’t reached. Our justice system is all bark, no bite.

I'll bough to your judgement on this one

Their actions were tantamount to treeson. They deserve harsh treetment. Also, autocorrect makes punning a chore.

you can prune any erros

Hopefully it'll serve as a deterent as I'm sycamore lenient sentencing.

Puns before noon Boo this man

Look at these people just punning freely, encouraged by your depravity. Look at the monster you’ve created. Puns - Not Even Once

Extinction Rebellion did it for a good reason and didn't upset as much people, but got similar sentencing and worse.

That's about the same sentence they'd get for committing actual rape in England these days.

Not excessive, their crime has had a massive impact on a lot of people and there needs to be a deterrent

Very good, but underneath it is a deep sadness,a wanton destruction of nature. I doubt either of them read Lord of the Rings, unless they see this Orc like behaviour as good. Moronic barely covers it.

You think this pair of neanderthals can read?

Fair point, and therein another sad fact. Reading opens the mind and broadens horizons. Very likely they can't or don't.

Exactly! Prison should just be for violence against people or animals.

Obviously, you do not garden or give a much thought to others.

Send them to horticultural school and make them do a 3 year degree. Hah ! Force them back into school... that would make them more appreciative of nature.

Oh dear 🤭

Is it enough though? This was literally an attack on what it means to be British. An attack on our values, culture and collective consciousness. An attack on every single citizen.

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I'd be happy with them being thoroughly castrated (chemicly and physicly) without anaestesia, live on air

👹trumpers who Eat Animals no doubt! Violence Begets Violence!☠️☠️☠️

Where is their accomplice ? I heard it was tree fellas

i think the sentence was fair....it was a landmark. People come here from other countries to see it. So what they did goes beyond a bit of casual criminal damage. There was malice in their hearts when they did it. And IIRC, sentencing takes that into consideration.

Prison sentence should be about keeping public safe, imho. Are these 2 a danger to the public? Maybe, since they act so recklessly with absence of empathy.

They didn't read this, did they?! And didn't they damage an ancient monument too? That carries a hefty penalty. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

They are Tree'rrorists... oh wait, they are not migrants or Faily Mail wouldn't stop moaning about it. The sad times we're living in...

Boy do they look like what I thought they would

Need a root and branch overhaul of the judicial system

Put them in the hoosgau until it grows back.

Maybe they should have gotten the same sentence they gave that tree?

👀 a bit harsh. How about community service looking after neglected trees.

I live in America and I loved that tree - traveled 5000 miles just to stand under it. The sentence seems entirely appropriate to me, though I don't like how the British taxpayer is now saddled with feeding and care for 4 years (but probably less - I'll bet 2 years).

Who DROVE the DRUNK pair there

Too early for dad jokes

Who put that beard on Cary Grant?! 😱

Good point. He was far too debonair for that look.

I’d put them in solitree

Oh come on, James, won't anyone think about the cow? She's lost her shade at #SycamoreGap. It was the only tree for miles. @LBC

1) I truly appreciate the pun. But harsh sentences are needed to root out these vandals before they branch out into something even more heinous.

I think we can weed them out.

I think you're bark-ing up the wrong tree there

We need a root and branch review

*Groans* Please tell me you tested that joke on your kids first.

No one should get 4 years for chopping down a tree. But... ...for being mindless, moronic twats? Oh yeah. 😆 It would be nice to think this sends a message to other twats. But since when did twats ever get the message? Sorry. You guys already used up all the puns! 🤷‍♂️

Comments are humourless haha

Should feed them to the tree from Evil Dead imo

I am stumped as to why they did it?

Perhaps now they will branch out and do something useful:

Yew wood say that.

I am sure the judge has taken the appropriate leaf out of the sentencing manual and everyone has twigged that damaging UNESCO sites is a bad idea.

Which branch of the law are you in?

Whilst not rooted in criminal law, I can spot bad apples when I see them…

Bark worse than ...

Might act as a deterrent? “Mind the Gap”

The defence lawyer was hoping the judges bark would be worse than her bite.

Getting then to plant 1642 trees each over 4.5 years seems like a sappier solution. Something ensuring they leaves trees alone when they are stumped for a social media stunt, have an axe to grind or are barking up the wrong tree.