The Observer.

Hello, it's Matt, and you're listening to the slow newscast from The Observer.

There was one story in 2025 that seemed to capture the British public's attention.

And that was the trial for the men accused of cutting down the iconic Sycamore Gap tree.

In this audio essay, Andrew Hankinson explores who those men are, what might motivate them.

You want to know why, and in the first week of the trial, I thought I had it.

This is Daniel Graham being interviewed by the police in October, 2023.

Graham.

I can be all right, I think.

Get ready for bed, and go to bed, and then all of a sudden like that, I'm fucking wide

awake.

Police officer.

Right. Graham. And I can't wide awake. Police officer. Right.

Graham.

And I can't fucking cope.

I'll toss and turn and I've got to get up and go and do something.

Or it's my dad or Lisa.

So I phone him and it's him saying, obviously everything's going down the pan.

I don't sleep. I don't do fuck all. So sometimes I'll go for a drive and that's why I bought a camper van.

Sometimes I get the camper van and just fuck off. It depends how I feel.

Or I'll go and see one of me pals or if my bird's there or I'll sit with my bird. It won't be a long trip.

I just fuck off in the car.

...