Sycamore Gap Tree's 'refusal to die' spared evil duo longer jail sentences.

The Sycamore Gap tree's refusal to die may have spared the "moronic" duo who felled it a far longer spell behind bars.

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were today sentenced to both serve four years and three months behind bars for chopping down the "totemic" tree.

But the detective who snared them believes the sentence would have been far longer had the famed tree not incredibly shown shoots of life.

After Britain's most famous tree was cut down, the stump was fenced off and experts believed it was dead. But after just a few weeks green shoots started to spring from its base.

At the same time a National Trust campaign was launched to make sure it lived on by growing 49 saplings from its seeds, each one representing a foot in height of the original Sycamore.

Because the tree was therefore not technically dead it meant Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers could not be charged with its destruction.

Instead they were accused of criminally damaging the tree, a less serious form of vandalism.

Detective Inspector Calum Meikle - a forester's son whose knowledge of trees landed him the job of leading the manhunt - said careful thought had to be given on how to charge the culprits.

He said: "It's not just criminal damage. It's not just a tree - that tree means so much to so many people.

"But when they put the fence around the stump, it started to rejuvenate, which was part of the fact that they were charged with criminal damage as opposed to destruction, because we knew that the tree is still living.

"Criminal damage is the overarching charge, but the technicalities of it were discussed at length with CPS and because it was damaged as opposed to destroyed, that's where the wording of the charge came in."

He revealed that it was a tip-off from someone close to Graham and Carruthers which put police on their trail within a fortnight of the famous tree, which is starred in Hollywood blockbusters including Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves - being cut down.

The informant knew that the pair had taken the wedge cut from the tree as a souvenir and were planning to keep it as a trophy.

Det Insp Meikle said: "It was a single strand of intelligence that was provided to police that allowed me to then progress my enquiries around Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.

"The basic gist was that it named them and stated that they had retained part of the tree.

"When we began to look at Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers, the first elements were to look at their capability and how they would potentially get to the site.

"That then led to the identification of a vehicle that had travelled into the Northumbria police area, and then exited it again. The significance of the intelligence combined with evidence from roadside cameras allowed me to discuss with the SIO my plans to move to arrest."

The senior officer also revealed how his knowledge of all things arboreal landed him the highest profile investigation in the recent history of Northumbria Police.

He said: "I was actually off on the Thursday the tree was discovered. However, on the Friday morning, I was due to attend a meeting in another capacity and because of my knowledge of arboricultural work, I was then asked to take the role of OIC.

"My father was a forester, he was a manager for a private forestry company that spanned the North of England.

"I asked to look at some photographs. I recognised some marks and made some observations, at which point I was asked how I'd formed that knowledge and then I was asked to be the OIC."

The breakthrough moment came when Daniel Graham was arrested and his mobile phone examined - at which point adamning video was found which was too dark to make out any images but featured the ear-splitting sound of a chainsaw.

The video was sent to forensic imaging experts at Northumbria, who were able to enhance the footage to the point the location was unmistakable.

Det Insp Meikle added: "I was very pleased. I'm always impressed with what our digital forensic units are able to achieve.

"From the video itself, it's very apparent that as the person filming moves back, it shows us that fantastically famous outline of the tree and the stem that moves out to the right. It was undoubtedly the sycamore gap tree."

One of his greatest frustrations in solving the case has been the lack of a clear motive for what was described in court as Carruthers and Graham's "moronic mission".

Det Inst Meikle said: "During the course of the investigation, this is probably one of the most asked questions that I get. The first question is always "why? and that's something that we still don't fully understand.

"I know that there are a lot of suggestions. However, there are only two people that really will potentially ever know.

"I think it would be fair to say that none of us really anticipated just how big this was to become. But I certainly don't think that they fully understood the enormity of their actions.

"I try not to get personally frustrated but I would say that the community, especially the local community, are increasingly frustrated in the fact that they don't know why this has taken place, quite understandably.

"I think that is potentially the biggest frustration that people hold. If there was an obvious reason, if there was an obvious grudge, then people could understand it. There's normally a driver behind crime, but we don't know what the purpose of this was.

"A moronic mission was potentially quite an apt description of it.. We don't know, we may never know, but if it was done for the most trivial reasons, it kind of makes it even sadder.

"I am just happy to have delivered the two people that I know are responsible."

The detective feels the case might prompt law-makers to re-examine the way trees in the UK are valued.

He said: "When you consider how famous that tree is, how much of a draw on Hadrian's Wall. It means so much. So, can you really realistically put a tangible value on something like that?

"I think this whole incident will raise further legislation because trees aren't afforded the same protection that an ancient monument gets. So, whilst Hadrian's Wall is an ancient monument, the tree itself wasn't."