Sycamore Gap sentences

New Avon Arms
Sledgehammer to crack a nut, in my opinion. Since when was being a drunken idiot grounds for a four year jail sentence? Sure, it was a nice tree. But that's all it was. A tree. Councils and developers all over the country do far worse clearing land to build on. Of course they should've been punished, but those sentences appear to be aimed at appeasing public outrage (which is affected, in my view) Personally I couldn't give a toss about it. It was only 150 years old, and a sycamore anyway. Not exactly a national treasure. This country's a bloody joke these days
 
countrryboy said:
It is mental they have 4 yrs each solely for felling a tree with no permission.
It wasnae even TPOd.

How much is that costing the tax payer.


To be fair to who ever was wielding the saw, the photos i seen he made a bloody tidy job off it.
Considering done at night in a gale the cuts are pretty tidy.
Not that easy esp at night
Also sycamore are a real pain to fell and pretty dodgy, so they either got lucky they werent hurt or had a fair idea wot they were doing.
Are notorious for snapping off the hinge and going where they wanted to go
Click to expand...
No TPO, but was/is a world heritage site
Cost of damage is supposedly £600K , although not sure how, plus the cost of conviction
Obviously TAS
Personally I thought it was a crap cut, way too high

As for punishment, pay for damage and spend weekends planting and weeding, maybe they were right wing thugs, which is why the sentence was severe
 
Greenmist said:
No TPO, but was/is a world heritage site
Cost of damage is supposedly £600K , although not sure how, plus the cost of conviction
Obviously TAS
Personally I thought it was a crap cut, way too high

As for punishment, pay for damage and spend weekends planting and weeding, maybe they were right wing thugs, which is why the sentence was severe
Click to expand...

I never understand the 600k figure.
Its just nuts.
How much damage would it have caused if it blew over in a strom?
The roots would really have destroyed the wall.
To be fair syc are usually quite wind resistant but a solo tree like that in an exposed place is always going to be a risk.

U never know the locals may grow to prefer it down?
Less idiot tourists parking in silly places and leaving gates open.
Im sure still a beautiful place even without the weed sorry tree.
Funny i would have a bit more sympathy if it was an oak, which really shouldnt make any difference

Must admit i cannae quite mind how high it was now, but seems to be the fashion. Esp if ur a tree monkey.
But even keeping back cut fairly level on uneven ground and esp at night.
 
countrryboy said:
I never understand the 600k figure.
Its just nuts.
How much damage would it have caused if it blew over in a strom?
The roots would really have destroyed the wall.
To be fair syc are usually quite wind resistant but a solo tree like that in an exposed place is always going to be a risk.

U never know the locals may grow to prefer it down?
Less idiot tourists parking in silly places and leaving gates open.
Im sure still a beautiful place even without the weed sorry tree.
Funny i would have a bit more sympathy if it was an oak, which really shouldnt make any difference

Must admit i cannae quite mind how high it was now, but seems to be the fashion. Esp if ur a tree monkey.
But even keeping back cut fairly level on uneven ground and esp at night.
Click to expand...
I agree, bad parking aside it did generate income, if they needed to and the will was there, a decent sized one could be placed there, actually that would be an app punishment, fund the cost of a replacement to be transported and transplanted
 
countrryboy said:
Thats exactly the type of sentence they should off had.
Or tying them up and firing wood chips at them.
When we worked on railways always joked would be a good punishment.
Feeding 18" birch or sycamore ( as they chip nice) throu a big 20 or 24"" chipper on a big tractor would be as painful as anything. Whole tree chipped in 1 min and firing chip out like bullets

It is mental they have 4 yrs each solely for felling a tree with no permission.
It wasnae even TPOd.

How much is that costing the tax payer.
Plus since over 3 yrs will that stay on their records for life?
They dont sound the sharpest tools in the box to start with but wot sort of job are they ever going to get with that on their Cv?

The whole thing from start to finish is very very strange.
Wot possessed them to ever even think of doing it and sounds like they might off got away with it if 1 never grassed the otherc1 in.

I actually bet many on here have done the exact same either on their stalking ground or shoot.
Granted it wouldnae be a world famous scenic tree.

To be fair to who ever was wielding the saw, the photos i seen he made a bloody tidy job off it.
Considering done at night in a gale the cuts are pretty tidy.
Not that easy esp at night
Also sycamore are a real pain to fell and pretty dodgy, so they either got lucky they werent hurt or had a fair idea wot they were doing.
Are notorious for snapping off the hinge and going where they wanted to go
Click to expand...

Believe it costs the tax payer £50k pa for low level prisoners.
 
Rasputin said:
Believe it costs the tax payer £50k pa for low level prisoners.
Click to expand...
So in theory 200k each.
Pmus the fact potentially unemployable after they get out. £££££££ in benfits.

Ironically would almost buy a tree

Ironically the only skill they had, felling trees no 1 would employ them doing it as the papers, social media court of public opinion would go nuts.
Can u imagine a tree companys imagine if word got out they employed the sycamore gap lads.
Hed really struggle to find work.
 
countrryboy said:
So in theory 200k each.
Pmus the fact potentially unemployable after they get out. £££££££ in benfits.

Ironically would almost buy a tree

Ironically the only skill they had, felling trees no 1 would employ them doing it as the papers, social media court of public opinion would go nuts.
Can u imagine a tree companys imagine if word got out they employed the sycamore gap lads.
Hed really struggle to find work.
Click to expand...
Or maybe t hey could start up there own tree surgery business and have the sycamore gap tree as there logo 🤔
 
countrryboy said:
So in theory 200k each.
Pmus the fact potentially unemployable after they get out. £££££££ in benfits.

Ironically would almost buy a tree

Ironically the only skill they had, felling trees no 1 would employ them doing it as the papers, social media court of public opinion would go nuts.
Can u imagine a tree companys imagine if word got out they employed the sycamore gap lads.
Hed really struggle to find work.
Click to expand...

Yep

It’s why we need to bring back hanging and flogging deterrents all you need is a whip and strong arm not four walls and sky tv.
 
It's very easy to understand apparently perverse sentences.To the Guardian reading judges, chopping down trees or cetnre-right thought crimes are very serious matters, whereas prosecuting ethnic rape gangs is am outrageous impertinence against their progressive, multicultural worldview. And paedos? Well, there but for the grace of (non-existent) God go they.

Justice and law should not be confused.
 
countrryboy said:
I never understand the 600k figure.
Its just nuts.
How much damage would it have caused if it blew over in a strom?
The roots would really have destroyed the wall.
To be fair syc are usually quite wind resistant but a solo tree like that in an exposed place is always going to be a risk.

U never know the locals may grow to prefer it down?
Less idiot tourists parking in silly places and leaving gates open.
Im sure still a beautiful place even without the weed sorry tree.
Funny i would have a bit more sympathy if it was an oak, which really shouldnt make any difference

Must admit i cannae quite mind how high it was now, but seems to be the fashion. Esp if ur a tree monkey.
But even keeping back cut fairly level on uneven ground and esp at night.
Click to expand...
The 600k figure was discussed in the BBC radio 4 podcast more or less

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less: Behind the Stats, How do you make something 10-times more lethal?

Plus, the Sycamore Gap tree, pensioner-worker ratios and yoga v fishers
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

It comes from a decent enough method used for street trees but Not a meaningful number in this context at all
 
AGR said:
Possibly the cost of that poly tunnel and labour where they are growing all the sycamore sticks and seedlings. For goodness sake!
Click to expand...
In short you can buy large trees for amenity use, cost of the tree and logistics are hideously expensive.
The counter argument is that Sycamores are non-native and as in this case it was a planted tree past its prime it was more akin to a timber crop, and that arguably the value is whatever a saw mill might reasonably pay for it.
That said the essence of the offence was that it outraged the bourgeoisie, which apparently was the intention from the outset.
 
As usual almost everything spouted on here is wrong. . . get a grip on the detail please. Drink played no part in their committing the offence.
If the sentencing report below is read to the end, the pair will serve only 20 months before being released on licence, less time already served.
Graham will be free this time next year. The outcome for them is by no means as bad as it could have been. :-|

 
Sinistral said:
As usual almost everything spouted on here is wrong. . . get a grip on the detail please. Drink played no part in their committing the offence.
If the sentencing report below is read to the end, the pair will serve only 20 months before being released on licence, less time already served.
Graham will be free this time next year. The outcome for them is by no means as bad as it could have been. :-|

Click to expand...

Still far too expensive and waste of taxpayer cash even a day inside is a joke. As someone else pointed out they should have been made to plant a forest everyone wins then.
 
The motivation for the crime i still find intriguing, it just doesn't make sense that they did it for a laugh I think there is something/someone that played these useful idiots into doing it.
 
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