LONDON — 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 widespread outrage and distress it caused.

Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers set out on a dark and stormy night in 2023 to carry out what a prosecutor called a “moronic mission” and toppled the majestic sycamore onto Hadrian’s Wall.

Graham, 39, and Carruthers, 32, were each convicted of two counts of criminal damage — one for destroying the tree, the other for damaging the ancient wall that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Justice Christina Lambert sentenced the pair in Newcastle Crown Court to four years and three months in prison because there was a high degree of premeditation and planning to destroy the tree and because the act had angered and saddened so many people.

“Felling the tree in the middle of the night and in the middle of a storm gave you some sort of thrill,” Lambert said. “You reveled in the coverage, taking evident pride in what you had done, knowing that you were responsible for the crime which so many were talking about.”

Sarah Dodd, a lawyer specializing in tree law, said it was the first time in the U.K. that someone had been sentenced to prison for illegally felling a tree.

The tree, perched in a saddle between two hills, had been known to locals for its scenic setting but became famous after a cameo in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” It drew tourists, lovers, landscape photographers and those who spread the ashes of loved ones. It was voted English “Tree of the Year” in 2016.