A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage in connection with the felling of the 300-year-old Sycamore Gap tree in the north of England.

Officers arrested the teenager amid an outpouring of sadness over the destruction of the landmark, which has been a feature of the site at Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland for hundreds of years. The boy is in custody and assisting officers with their inquiries, Northumbria police said on Thursday.

Locals and national park authorities said they were “struggling to see the logic” in the destruction of a sycamore which had long become “part of this area’s DNA” and had gone through thousands of changes of seasons.

The tree, believed to have been about 300 years old, was made famous when it appeared in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner.

  • Kofu
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    1351 year ago

    There is no logic, only destruction.

    • @qooqie@lemmy.world
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      1291 year ago

      I’m really not a big fan of the teenage phase some go through where they think it’s fun to be edgy and crap on other people’s hobbies and interests.

      • @TheHangedMan@lemm.ee
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        311 year ago

        It can be frustrating to see, but they have a tonne going on biologically. I’ve had a bunch of friends, nieces & nephews that have all been horrible when teenagers, then grow up to be fantastic, kind people.

      • @sock@lemmy.world
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        01 year ago

        i was that teenager and in hindsight i was an asshole but i think it helped me grow out of being an asshole faster because i became so self aware of my insecure and defensive tendencies

        RULE MANY DONT UNDERSTAND, one thing being bad/good does not abstain another thing from being bad/good

        everything is made for someone and if you dont enjoy it someone else does.

        except linux users can suck a dick

  • @Wahots@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    Make him replant sycamore trees, then work for the forest druids/nearest national park during summer vacations. His spirit sounds troubled.

  • @Vodik_VDK@lemmy.world
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    821 year ago

    I dislike you 16-year old boy, Sycamore Gap Feller.

    I dislike you as I dislike Brock Turner, Convicted Rapist.

    • @klemptor@lemmy.ml
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      441 year ago

      You mean Convicted Rapist Brock Turner, now going by the name of Convicted Rapist Allen Turner, who was sentenced to six months but only served three for what his father called (and I quote) “twenty minutes of action”? That Convicted Rapist Brock Allen Turner?

      • @Vodik_VDK@lemmy.world
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        81 year ago

        [I awaken as a shadow of my former self, a figment of the late-night scroller you met so long ago. I return to you now, humbled and broken by time and nature, and in my defeat I must profess that In my state I find myself unfit to take up the weight of the banner which I swore to bear.]

        Yes, the very same Brock Allen Turner, convicted rapist of an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, who only served three months.

    • @chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      471 year ago

      We moved a 260 year old oak 50 yards to save it when building a new City Halland police station.

      It cost $250,000.

      • Lev_Astov
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        101 year ago

        So about the same as US student loans? Sounds like a good amount of debt to put him in.

        • Lols [they/them]
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          261 year ago

          putting people in serious, permanent financial financial trouble with no real chance of escaping is famously effective at treating criminality

              • @Umbraveil@lemmy.world
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                -21 year ago

                You get to a point where maybe it just makes more sense? 8 billion people on this planet. 8 fucking billion. At that scale, truly what is the value of a human life? I’m neither for nor against a death penalty, but I do question at what point do we stop tolerating those who are selfish, entitled, destructive, and violent? When do we stop giving out slaps on the wrist?

                We’ve seen similar destructive actions in the past. We all pay the price for one person’s actions.

                I do like the idea mentioned above though that this kid should be sentenced to seeding and tending to the growth of a forest of trees.

                Maybe also have him pay for the commission of a artistic piece to stand in place of the tree.

        • @chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          21 year ago

          Is there another tree within 50 yards? If it has to be transported any kind of distance it will be millions.

  • FauxPseudo
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    461 year ago

    Also today some people got arrested for putting a hole large enough to drive a truck through in the Great Wall of China. Today is bad day for ancient walls.

  • JJROKCZ
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    451 year ago

    He’s just a pissed off, angsty, angry teenager. Make him plant 300 trees as community service in the presence of arborists and maybe he’ll learn something good for the rest of his life. Jail won’t help this tree, our world, or him.

  • u/lukmly013 💾 (lemmy.sdf.org)
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    421 year ago

    Just look at that tree:

    That even looks too good to be real. Probably one of the best places for such a tree to grow.

    How do you just decide, “Yep, let’s cut it down!” here? Did he take drugs? Like, I mean, all of them.

      • @moitoi@feddit.de
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        191 year ago

        Pathologizing each mistake or problem won’t resolve them. You’re searching for excuse, or pathologizing will be used as excuse. We will end with the same situations again and again. Education effectively fights these behaviors without excusing. But, I agree on one pathologization. The society is sick of a lack of education. This is widely due to the socio-economic situation of many of us due to some economic dogma and ideology.

  • katy ✨
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    411 year ago

    The punishment should be that he becomes Johnny Appleseed and has to spend the rest of his life crossing the country planting trees

  • @madcaesar@lemmy.world
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    261 year ago

    Insane question, could the tree be saved by splicing it back into the trunk? Like you can do with small trees?

    • @hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world
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      401 year ago

      If they had found it right after it had been felled, they might have had a slight chance if they already had a crane nearby and ready and a firehouse.

      Trees are basically a huge ring of tubes to carry water/sap/ tree blood, a thin layer of living wood between the bark and the dead wood inside from earlier growth. The tree relies on those tubes always being full of water because it doesn’t have any way to push the sap around actively. The water evaporates from the leaves, buds, any part of the tree not covered by bark, and this pulls water from the bottom of the tree up to replace it. (Technically the water moves up due to capillary action of the close molecular interactions of the H2O and the tiny size of the tubes so it doesn’t need a lot of “pull”)

      But if these tubes get cut, an air bubble gets in and that flow is interrupted. It’s difficult or impossible for a plant to recover flow in that tube. If the cut is kept wet, it can keep air from blocking the tube, which is wide you are advised to trim flower stems under running water and never let them dry out if you are keeping flowers in a vase.

      If a tree loses most of all of these tubes to air bubbles, it can’t really recover. This is why “ringing” a tree kills it and also why there is a strict limit on the number of times you can tap a Maple Tree for syrup.

        • Flying SquidM
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          31 year ago

          I am guessing that the most cost-effective option is just replacing the tree, which is probably what they will most likely do. But I hope they take another tack and find a way to restore it.

    • SpaceBar
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      31 year ago

      No. Not even remotely possible for a tree that age and size. Even as an experiment with planning ahead, it would fail.

  • @jarfil@lemmy.world
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    261 year ago

    16-year-old boy […] struggling to see the logic

    What logic?

    had gone through thousands of changes of seasons […] 300 years old

    300 years is only 1200 seasons.

  • @okamiueru@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m fine with a lenient punishment. If it turns out he did it to get attention, I’m happy to grant him that wish by an exceptionally harsh punishment, so much so that more little shits wanting to make society worse and being rewarded for it, will see that the risk is too high. Don’t go into female only carriages in Japan, don’t cut down trees, don’t do dumb stunts against homeless people, etc.

    Half the time it’s paid actors, but when it’s not, throw the book at them, or force extended community service to remedy the harm they do. Financially penalise any monetary gain made from such stunts. Etc.

  • @fruitleatherpostcard@lemm.ee
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    151 year ago

    So the various theories I’ve read are:

    • kid is retarded.
    • kid is acting on behalf of family.
    • kid is blamed for family’s act.
    • kid was fired from local ranger service and wanted revenge.
    • all of above.