‘I’m the wrong guy - stop pestering me’, says lumberjack with same name as Sycamore Gap suspect
A forestry worker with the same name as the suspect in the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree has called for amateur detectives to leave him alone after he was hounded with phone calls and messages.
Daniel Graham, 30, who is the Duke of Northumberland’s main hand cutter, joked that he was so surprised to hear his name on the radio in connection with the crime that “at first even I thought it was me”.
“Especially because I specialise in cutting down oversized trees, so I was kind of suspected from the beginning,” he told The Telegraph. “Obviously there aren’t that many chainsaw operators in the northeast, it’s quite a minor skill.”
On Tuesday, police announced that another Daniel Graham, 38, and Adam Carruthers, 31, had been charged with causing criminal damage following the felling of the famous tree in Northumberland. The two will appear in court next month, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
‘I have had to put my phone in the cupboard’
Mr Graham, who is from near Alnwick in Northumberland, said he was immediately inundated with phone calls and messages on social media from strangers asking if he was responsible for the alleged crime, including some that he said were “quite nasty”.
“It has been pretty non-stop,” he said. “I have had to put my phone in the cupboard.”
But Mr Graham, who lives around 30 miles from the Sycamore Gap said he could understand how people had come to the conclusion that he might be responsible, especially as the felling of the tree appeared to have been well executed.
“It was quite a tactical cut really, if you’re looking at it as a professional. You can’t really fault it.”
He added: “I don’t think anyone’s really to blame, it’s just a massive coincidence. And obviously people are very upset about it.”
Mr Graham said he was concerned about how it could impact his business in the future.
“It’s quite easy to put right, but it’s a bit of a hassle.”
Commenting on Tuesday, Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Fenney, the senior investigating officer, urged people “to avoid speculation, including online, which could impact the ongoing case”.
The National Trust, which owns the land on which the tree stood, said it was hopeful the sycamore will live on after scientists managed to propagate new life from seeds and cuttings taken from the site.
