Poisoned oaks, slain sycamores: who?s behind Britain?s tree murders?

In affluent areas across the UK, unknown assassins are striking. Their weapons? Herbicides and hatchets. Their victims? Once mighty trees. We join the plant detectives on their trailAs crime scenes go, Whitecliff Harbourside Park in Poole must be one of the lovelier ones. At 9am on a Monday in springtime, it?s already buzzing with activity. Well-groomed pedigree dogs tow their well-groomed pedigree owners around on long leads; joggers and power walkers are out in force; wading birds busily forage on the foreshore. On a clear day you can see all the way to Corfe Castle across the world?s second-largest natural harbour (after Sydney, Australia). It?s a bit hazy today, but still the view, which is central to this case, is pretty good.And yet Whitecliff Park is the scene of two shocking double murders. Most recently, during the night of 15 February, an attack left two dead on Turks Lane, along the southeastern edge of the park. Six months earlier, two much-loved elderly residents ? fine, upstanding pillars of the community ? were poisoned to death on Whitecliff Road, at the top of the park. In a statement Dorset Police said: ?Officers carried out inquiries into these incidents; however, no arrests have been made.? Continue reading...