A man accused of cutting down the world-famous Sycamore Gap tree says he could not understand the outraged public reaction, telling jurors it was "almost as if someone had been murdered."

Adam Carruthers branded the 100-year-old sycamore "just a tree" as he launched his defensive case alongside former friend Daniel Graham.

Prosecutors say ground worker Graham, 39, and mechanic Carruthers, 32, drove overnight from Carlisle to the Northumberland landmark during Storm Agnes in September 2023, and brought the tree crashing down with a chainsaw.

The pair, who each deny two counts of criminal damage, are jointly charged with causing £622,191 of criminal damage to the much-photographed Northumberland tree that starred in numerous film and TV shows including Hollywood blockbuster Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.

They are also charged with causing £1,144 of damage to Hadrian's Wall, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The wall and the tree belong to the National Trust.

Giving evidence on the fifth day of the trial at Newcastle Crown Court today, Carruthers was asked why he showed so much interest in the story the day after the tree was cut down.

He said: "On the morning I woke up I had looked online and it was all over Facebook. I was thinking, 'what's going on here?'. It was everywhere.

"My understanding was it was just a tree, I couldn't understand why everyone was sharing it, every second post, it was about this tree. I just couldn't get my head round it.

"The way it was travelling through the news, I was amazed how something so small could create so much publicity."

Questioned by his barrister Andrew Gurney why he and Graham had been messaging each other about the story, Carruthers said: "I couldn't really understand why there was such a major outbreak - it was almost as if someone had been murdered.

"Daniel was a friend of mine at the time. I sent it across, it was everywhere."

Carruthers said that in September 2023 he was staying with his partner of 10 years in Kirkbride, Cumbria, as she had just given birth to their daughter by Caesarean section and needed help looking after their two children.

He told jurors he was at home with his partner on the night the tree was felled.

Asked why he had been messaging his partner if he was at home, he said she had been in her bedroom with the baby.

He said: "To save walking in and have a conversation, waking the baby up, it was easier to send her a text message - it was quiet."

He was then asked about a message he sent to his partner that night saying he had a "better video" after she sent him a video of their baby being bottle fed.

He said he had made a video of the roof of their washing shed being damaged in the storm, and was referring to that.

Carruthers was also asked about a voice note he sent to Graham on September 28 2023 referring to "an operation like we did last night".

He said: "I think it's been interpreted wrong, it should be 'launch an operation like what he did last night'. I'm referring to the person who done the job.

"It might sound as if I'm being sexist saying it's a man, but I wouldn't have thought it would have been a woman who done it."

Carruthers said he "had no idea" who was responsible for cutting down the tree and "nothing was ever mentioned to me that (Graham) had anything to do with it".

Asked why his friendship with Graham ended, Carruthers said his co-accused came to see him at work one night and told him: "I'm going to go my way and you're going to go yours - I believe you have been grassing on me."

Mr Gurney asked if Carruthers had "grassed him up" and the defendant insisted he had not.

He also denied ever using a piece of string to measure the tree at Sycamore Gap or asking his co-defendant to take the blame for felling it, as Graham claimed during his evidence.

Asked if he had a fixation on the tree, Carruthers said: "No, not at all."

The trial continues.