Letting out a sigh, the experienced police detective who brought the Sycamore Gap tree fellers to justice momentarily mulls over the question put to him before turning back to the journalist.
“What do you think?” he asks, before repeating himself to the half-a-dozen-or-so reporters in the room: “What do you think of the value?”
Detective Inspector Calum Meikle is giving a media briefing before the much-anticipated sentencing of Adam Carruthers and Daniel Graham, after both were found guilty of cutting down the iconic tree that once stood tall on Hadrian’s Wall.
The smartly-dressed detective was in charge of the investigation that led to the conviction of the motley pair, and now he’s being put on the spot on the value of criminal damage given by the prosecution in court; initially £622,191 to be exact.
When another journalist in the featureless meeting room at Northumbria Police’s headquarters, on the outskirts of Newcastle, says he was shocked how high the figure was, Det Insp Meikle quickly responds “were you?”
Then, if anyone at the briefing needed an illustration on worth of the tree to the region, maybe to the world, the police officer, a son of a forester, delivers it.
“When you consider how famous that tree is, how much of a draw, it's on the Hadrian's Wall, it’s just up from The Sill [Northumbria National Park visitor centre], people would visit for numerous reasons,” he says.
“For a lot of people, it means so much, so can you really realistically put a tangible value on something like that?”
Det Insp Meikle might not openly say it, but there is a sense that this investigation mattered more than any other over his two decades in policing.
With his father’s line of work, running a private forestry company spanning the north of England, and his own knowledge of agricultural work, he was the perfect fit to lead the investigation.
While the world reacted in horror, then anger, over the chopping down of the famous tree, Det Insp Meikle admits he was under pressure to deliver; there was also, he says, “personal pride” involved.
Every family or social event he went to, the same questions would be asked.
“I think it would be fair to say that none of us really anticipated just how big this was to become,” he reflects. “I tried to put things to one side and make sure that I’m focused upon the task in hand.”
The investigation started with two arrests; a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 60s were arrested, before both were later told they faced no further action.
Then, around two weeks after the tree had been chopped down, a “single strand of intelligence”, probably a tip-off, came in. It named then-best friends Graham and Carruthers, and said they retained part of the tree.
Attention turned to the pair, considering their “capability and capacities”, before automatic number plate recognition cameras linked a vehicle with the area around the Sycamore Gap tree.
“The intelligence bore fruit,” says Det Insp Meikle.
Dawn raids were carried out on the pair’s homes. Carruthers lived on a yard at an old fuel depot connected to RAF Kirkbride airfield. Graham lived in a caravan just a stone’s throw from Hadrian’s Wall near Carlisle.
During the arrests, a mobile phone was discovered in one of Graham’s clothes pockets. On it, officers found a grainy video - a key moment in the case against the pair.
“When we first found it, it was just a black video with sound. However, once we had that enhanced, that then provided us with the shocking images that we’ve all now seen,” says Det Insp Meikle.
He adds: “As you can see from the video itself, it’s very apparent that as the person filming moves back, it shows us that fantastically famous outline of the tree and the stem that goes out to the right, and it is undoubtedly the Sycamore Gap tree, so... it was very pleasing to have that.”
The pair were calm in police interviews, neither would admit their involvement in the cutting down of the tree.
Carruthers later claimed that on the day of the damage, he had gone to a shopping centre an hour-and-a-half away with his newborn child and partner, before deciding to turn around and go back home.
Graham said he had been “stitched up”.
But over the months that followed, as more evidence piled up against the pair, the pressure began to show. Graham even reported his friend to the police on the eve of the trial. As they both gave evidence in court, it was clear the friendship was no more.
The jury didn’t take long to find them guilty.
“Sitting and listening to what they were saying only confirmed to me that my job had been successfully completed,” says Det Inp Meikle.
Job done, conviction sealed - but was there an ounce of frustration, no one still knows why they did it.
Bets gone wrong, a grudge against the authority and the tree being taken as a “trophy” for Carruthers’ newborn are just some of the theories put forward.
“I try not to get personally frustrated,” says Det Con Meikle. “I would say that the community, especially the local community, are increasingly frustrated in the fact that they don't know why this has taken place, quite understandably.
“I am just happy to have delivered the two people that I know are responsible.”
Pushed on his own theory, Det Con Meikle remains professional and will not speculate.
When one journalist suggests that, as the two defendants cut down trees for a living, the prize of the Sycamore Gap tree was too irresistible, the police officer does respond.
“I would counter that in the fact that if you're into that line of business, agriculture, you actually have a respect for nature and trees, so to then go and cut down one of the most famous trees would probably go very much against your line of work and your personal ethic.”
What next for the pair? They face a lengthy time in jail, but what about their lives?
“I think it's dramatically changed their lives,” says Det Con Meikle. “Going forward, it's up to them how they then make recompense for what they've done.”
And what about the law, and the protection of trees?
“This whole incident will raise further legislation,” says Det Con Meikle. “Because trees aren't afforded the same protection that an ancient monument does. So whilst Hadrian's wall is an ancient monument. The tree itself wasn't.”
Graham and Carruthers were each jailed for four years and three months at Newcastle Crown Court on 15 July.
