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Teen Chops Down Iconic Tree in Britain

by VOA News

   A teenager has cut down a world-famous tree in northern England.

   The 16-year-old boy has been arrested and released for cutting down the
   Sycamore Gap tree that stood alone along Hadrian's Wall in
   Northumberland county.

   The tree, which was several hundred years old, was cut down Wednesday,
   in what Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness said
   "looks like a deliberate act of vandalism."

   Photographs of the fallen tree show that it was cut at its base.

   Fans of the tree posted on various internet sites photographs of the
   tree that they had taken, along with comments about what the tree meant
   to them.

   The tree was featured in the 1991 film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,"
   starring Kevin Costner.