The tree, which stood in a picturesque dip along Hadrian’s Wall, the 70-mile fortification that once guarded the northern edge of the Roman Empire, was found illegally cut down in September 2023. Planted in the 1800s, the towering sycamore was one of Britain’s most photographed trees and featured in the 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

Vandals who cut down England’s beloved Sycamore Gap tree were sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison for damaging the country's natural heritage and for the outrage and distress they caused.