Small tree felled in England: 60-year-old man arrested

A 60-year-old man was arrested on Friday evening as part of an investigation into the felling of one of the UK’s most famous trees, local police announced.

• Read more: The famous tree from the movie “Robin Hood” was cut with a chainsaw

The felling of the Sycamore Cape tree, isolated between two mountains in a spectacular landscape in the north of England, has caused sadness and anger in England.

This two-hundred-year-old maple tree was located very close to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in Roman times to prevent barbarian invasion.

In 2016, it was chosen as “Tree of the Year”, and in 1991 appeared in the cinema in Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood”.

Northumbria Police, which is investigating this “deliberate act of vandalism”, announced on Friday evening that they had arrested “a man in his sixties in connection with the incident”.

AFP

A 16-year-old boy who was arrested on Thursday and suspected of “indecency” was released on Friday morning “pending further enquiries”.

“I believe this second arrest demonstrates that we are taking the situation seriously and our commitment to finding those responsible and bringing them to justice,” Northumbria Police Officer Rebecca Fenney-Menzies was quoted as saying in a statement.

Photo by AFP

On Thursday morning, hikers discovered the country’s most photographed tree, cut cleanly at the stump with a chainsaw.

Andrew Bott, one of the managers of the National Trust, which manages several heritage sites in the United Kingdom, assured the BBC that the tree was in “good health” and could be regrown.