I've been following the story for a while and it has never been adequately explained by mainstream media. Consider this... They drove for over an hour in the middle of the night in foul weather to a remote location to cut down a particular tree. That suggests some preplanning.

Yeah I think so. Attention seeking, maybe something to do with a planning application to live somewhere being rejected too: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn811px4m7mo

Honestly it's my first time looking at the story for a while! I just knew they got jail time for it.