Indeed, the very fact we know the name Herostratus shows that damnatio memoriae does not work at all.
So what would an adequate punishment look like? Perhaps burning at the stake with the wood from the tree itself? Impaling on the tree itself? Forcing him to eat it? Sounds tempting but is probably not possible according to British jurisprudence. I don’t even know whether 16-year old teenagers can be jailed (for such a crime) in Britain. In Germany or in Spain he would suffer very little consequences apart from the reputational damage, if the internet catches up with him (which it probably would).
It didn’t fall in the direction I would have preferred. 
I dropped a huge Frasier Fir that my gf thought was above my abilities. She was afraid I’d hit a retaining wall, but I told her that using trigonometry I knew I was safe.My calculations showed I’d miss the wall by 6 feet. When I dropped the tree I missed the wall by 6 centimeters.
She was impressed, because she thought I actually knew I was coming within inches.
The really impressive part was that if the tree fell in any direction other than where I dropped it, I’d have hit the house.
The think about felling trees is that dropping the tree is cool. Dealing with disposal of all that wood on the ground is the real work.
Hah, I knew where that link would go even before I clicked it.
If you watch all the way to the end of running_coach’s link, that skillful chainsaw wielder’s last words are “let’s get out of here.” He’s not gonna be the one doing all that work. 
Thanks for sharing the tale of the Broccoli Tree.
Yeah, I love that clip. Back in the day I did take down a fairly big fir near a friend’s house and I earned a few gray hairs that day. But it came down exactly where I wanted and missed everything it could have hit.
Should the treatment of the perpetrator of this act of vandalism be treated differently on account of the historic nature of the object destroyed?
To put this into perspective, this was possibly the most photographed landmark tree in the UK. destruction of this landmark is approximately the same as when vandals toppled the Duckbill hoodoo stone in Oregon (I know the stone is older than the tree, but the landmark status was similar).
On one hand, it’s just a tree and maybe the crime of cutting it down should be the same as it would be for any non-notable tree, but on the other hand, the intent of a person destroying a famous landmark is not the same as the intent of a person just destroying a random tree…
Intent or mens rea goes to guilt or innocence. The significance or rarity of the object vandalized or destroyed is, I believe, a proper factor for the court to consider in sentencing, if there is a conviction. I would sentence this idjit, if convicted, more harshly for destruction of this unique tree than I would if he had cut down, say, one tree among many in a public park or even on his neighbor’s wooded lot.
For further context, it’s this specific tree:
I hear that Elton John is to release a tribute to our beloved tree, Vandal in the Wind
Too soon! (But funny)
Maybe a redo of the Tom Petty classic, now called Tree Falling.
He will certainly not get jail time. It’s possible that her will get a criminal conviction and some unpaid work, but he could get away with a police caution.
efforts are also underway to salvage the tree somehow, through regrowth or grafting — or starting over from a new seed.
A older man is involved too. I suspect it was his chain saw.
Imho the tree should be cut into slabs. Woodworkers can use it in furniture. At least then the wood isn’t just left to rot in a scrap pile.
Video unavailable.
Assuming the 16-year-old was indeed involved, I hope all his friends tell him what a jerk he is and shun him thereafter. That could be a worse punishment than anything the law can lay on him.
Don’t be silly.
Take away his cellphone.
Right, that would be the worst. And I suppose he hangs with the kind of kids who’d think it was funny, anyway, sigh. But maybe his girldfiend will dump him.