The detective in charge of cracking the Sycamore Gap investigation has revealed a tip-off led police to catch the two men responsible.
Detective Inspector Calum Meikle declined to tell reporters if that information came from someone close to the perpetrators, Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers.
But when officers found on Graham’s phone a video – albeit shot in the pitch black and needing digital enhancement – of the tree being chopped down, that convinced him that the information was good.
And once experts worked on the video to change the contrast, it was a “fantastic” piece of evidence to put before the jury, Mr Meikle said.
He told reporters: “As everybody has now seen, the outline of the tree is so recognisable.
“As soon as you see the video… you can see the tree, then, yes, it was confirmation, for me that we were certainly looking in the right direction.”
The detective could not shed more light on the key question that people who have followed the case wanted to know – why the pair carried out their idiotic plan.
In a pre-sentencing interview, Mr Meikle was asked about the possible motive and said: “That is probably the question that I get asked the most.
“That is possibly the element of this entire case that is most frustrating to everybody, and it potentially is the one question that will never be truly known.”
Faced with the tough task of solving a crime committed in the middle of the night, in a remote corner of Northumberland, miles from any potential witnesses and with little CCTV in the vicinity, the detective revealed how the investigation process started back in September 2023.
He said: “You revert back to old school policing techniques, and you start at the scene, and you essentially work outwards.
“That was the situation that I found myself in, where we had a very remote scene with very little in the way of CCTV – all the things that you would fall back on to look at – that wasn’t immediately available.”
That included taking DNA evidence from the stump and saw dust at the scene, which could later be linked to a chainsaw if one was recovered from a suspect.
The key, he said, was “making sure that I was alive to everything that was that was coming in, making sure that every element that it was that was possible to follow, we followed.”
He added: “As with any police investigation, sometimes we will rely upon information or intelligence being passed.
“It happened that some information was passed to police that identified Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers as being responsible.”
Mr Meikle said the amount of public interest made it unique in his 21-year-long police career.
He said: “I think the fact that we are here today, nearly two years on, and the public and media interest is almost the same as it was on the day that it was found makes it very unique.
“There’s a lot of feeling locally and globally that’s become very apparent, something that you don’t see on anything else.
“So I do understand that I’ve been in a very fortunate position to be the OIC (officer in charge) of the investigation.”
Mr Meikle revealed that he had two officers continually working alongside him on the inquiry, calling the team “proportionately sized, very compact but efficient”, with digital specialists and other experts helping when required.
Asked if the weight of public expectation was heavy, he replied: “No, and that is an honest answer, because I was focused solely on the investigation.”
But when the court case began, with national and international interest, the detective realised the amount of pressure the team had been under to crack the case.
He said he was “very proud” of the investigation and what had been achieved, saying: “Northumbria Police and myself strive to provide an outstanding service, and that is always at the forefront of your mind when you’re doing an investigation.”
