Police are taking so long to find out who felled the Sycamore Gap tree because of a lack of available evidence and the lengthy process of forensic analysis, Express.co.uk has been told.
The Northumberland landmark was chopped down last week and has since lain on part of the Roman Hadrian’s wall.
Further investigations by those on the ground have found that the tree damaged some of the wall — which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — on falling over.
Two people, a boy aged 16 and a man in his Sixties were separately arrested for the felling but have since been released on bail, the latter of which has protested his innocence.
Now, Dylan Rhys Jones, a senior law lecturer and lead of Wrexham University’s law department, has said forensic tests taking place at the tree are delaying the process of catching the culprit, with police hopeful of “buying some time”.
“This sort of forensic stuff takes a very long time, they’ll be looking for DNA from the tree that they can link with an individual,” he told Express.co.uk.
Mr Rhys Jones, who practised as a lawyer for over 20 years before becoming a professor, said he believed the police would be using the forensic process to “buy themselves some time” in looking for the person or people responsible.
“They could be looking at the marks on the tree and whether they fit with the confiscated chainsaw,” he said.
“They could be looking for specialist advice and guidance in regard to that, they could be working with some engineers or forensics people.
“They’ll be able to say, ‘Well, the teeth on the chainsaw match with the marks on the tree.’
“If they can make a link between the chainsaw and the individual, and then the chainsaw and the tree, then they’ve got good grounds to charge the individual involved.”
Mr Rhys Jones also said that police may be looking for other traces of the individual involved at the site, things like minute pieces of clothing passed on or caught to the tree, genetic material from the person that may be on the site, like hair or saliva.
“It’s then of course up to them to make a connection, so it’s quite complex, and that’s why it’s taking time,” he added.
He estimated that it could take police up to a month or more to explore all avenues of inquiry.
News spread that the tree had been “deliberately” chopped down overnight, in the early hours of September 28, and a police investigation was launched immediately.
The Sycamore Gap tree is one of the UK’s most famous trees, having appeared in a number of films, made famous to the world in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner.
Sources differ, and while some say the tree has stood in its place for 300 years, others claim it was planted in the late 1800s by the previous land owner, John Clayton, as a landscape feature.
Forensics officers have been seen taking measurements and samples from the remains and photographing the area.
According to the BBC, one was heard remarking: “In 31 years of forensics I’ve never examined a tree.”
Experts from Historic England are now inspecting the stretch of Hadrian’s wall that the tree damaged.
A spokesman for the organisation said: “We have not yet been able to access the site to carry out a full investigation so a further archaeological appraisal will take place once the site is considered safe.
“We appreciate how strongly people feel about the loss of the tree, and its impact on this special historic landscape, and will continue to work closely with key partners as this progresses.”
