One of the two former friends accused of chopping down the tree at Sycamore Gap told police he was being framed for the crime as part of a dispute with someone "stirring the pot".Groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, said he knew how to cut down trees and had three or four chainsaws, but he was not trained to fell anything as large as the famous sycamore beside Hadrian's Wall.

One of the two former friends accused of chopping down the tree at Sycamore Gap told police he was being framed for the crime as part of a dispute with someone "stirring the pot".Groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, said he knew how to cut down trees and had three or four chainsaws, but he was not trained to fell anything as large as the famous sycamore beside Hadrian's Wall.