A man who was arrested over the felling of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree says he’s taken unusual measures to avoid public abuse.
Walter Renwick, a lumberjack, was arrested the day after the popular tree was felled in September 2023.
The 70ft tree – which featured in 1991 Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – sat in a gap in Hadrian’s Wall and was one of the most beloved trees in the UK.
But it was chopped down in the middle of the night. Two friends, called ‘moronic’ by a judge, have been found guilty of criminal damage over the felling.
Mr Renwick, 69, was released without charge by December 2023.
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He spoke out at the time, saying he was not ‘stupid’ enough to cut down the tree – but it public outcry against the tree felling means Mr Renwick is still associated with the Sycamore Gap.
Speaking to the BBC yesterday, he described his home in Northumberland being searched as ‘heartbreaking’ and said he would be pointed out in the street.
Mr Renwick of the police searches: ‘There were police everywhere, drones flying around the valley, divers in the lake, they were 100% certain I’d done it.
‘Every time I went shopping in Haltwhistle or Hexham, people were nudging each other and saying “that’s him that cut the tree down”, stuff like that.
‘I know it was daft but I put a Rod Stewart wig on so people didn’t spot me.’
Months before the Sycamore Gap tree was felled, Mr Renwick had been evicted from Plankey Mill Farm near Bardon Mill, just a few miles from Hadrian’s Wall.
The tenancy held by his grandfather and father had not passed to him – and this led to online sleuths suggesting the eviction was his motivation for chopping down the tree.
‘I’d just lost everything I had, my cows, my sheep, my parents’ stuff. I’d lost my home and then this,’ Mr Renwick said.
Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, were both found guilty by an unanimous jury of criminal damage at Newcastle crown court in May.
Discussing the true culprits, Mr Renwick said: ‘I just keep asking myself why they did it.
‘Was it just attention seeking? I don’t know what it was but, for me at least, it’s over.
‘Actually, you know, the tree, that was one thing. But losing my farm. That was the thing that hurt most of all.’
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