Author Raynor Winn has responded to a newspaper investigation alleging she misrepresented aspects of her life story in her 2018 bestseller, *The Salt Path*.
According to The Observer’s report, Winn allegedly misrepresented the circumstances surrounding the loss of her and her husband’s home, which prompted their 630-mile walking journey. The investigation also raised questions regarding the nature of her husband’s illness. Winn has refuted these claims and stated that she is seeking legal counsel.
In a detailed statement published on her website on Wednesday, Winn addressed the specific allegations made by The Observer.
She provided documentation that she says supports her husband Moth’s prior diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration (CBD).
Winn also defended her account of the events leading to the loss of their home and denied any outstanding debts.
However, Winn did acknowledge “mistakes” made earlier in her career, following The Observer’s report that she had defrauded a former employer of £64,000, citing a period of intense pressure.
“Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry,” she stated, while also noting that the matter was settled with her former employer on a “non-admissions basis” and that despite police questioning, she was never charged.
BBC News has reached out to the journalist who authored The Observer article for comment.
Winn included photographs of documents which appear to indicate that medical professionals recognized or made reference to Moth’s condition or its symptoms.
One letter appears to show Moth was initially considered to have “an atypical form of corticobasal degeneration,” but further investigation suggested he might have “an even more unusual disorder, perhaps monogenetic.”
Winn explained that a CBS diagnosis is not determined through a single test, “but rather from a long and complex route of observation, where sufferers may have symptoms for many years before they finally reach a diagnosis.”
She added, “We will always be grateful that Moth’s version of CBS is indolent, its slow progression has allowed us time to discover how walking helps him.”
Winn said that she had documented Moth’s illness “with such a level of honesty, that this is the most unbearable of the allegations,” adding, “My books have become a record of his health.”
*The Salt Path* detailed how Moth’s condition seemed to improve during and after their walk. However, in her statement, Winn clarified, “I have never sought to offer medical advice in my books or suggest that walking might be some sort of miracle cure for CBS, I am simply charting Moth’s own personal journey and battle with his illness, and what has helped him.”
Winn acknowledged the dispute with her previous employer, but emphasized that it was unrelated to the court case described in *The Salt Path* involving their friend, referred to as Cooper, which ultimately led to the loss of their home.
Reiterating the events as depicted in her book, Winn stated that Moth invested in Cooper’s property portfolio, and upon the investment’s maturity, Cooper claimed it had failed due to low occupancy.
Winn said Cooper promised to eventually repay the money, and in 2008, the couple requested its return. Instead, she alleges, Cooper offered them a loan through his company, secured against their home with an 18% interest rate, which he claimed he would cover.
However, Winn said Cooper’s company later went into liquidation without the charge on their home being removed. Consequently, their house was repossessed.
Winn acknowledged working for the employer before the economic downturn of 2008, describing it as a “pressured time.”
“It was also a time when mistakes were being made in the business. Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry,” she said.
Winn stated that her employer reported her to the police, accusing her of taking money from the company. “I was questioned, I was not charged, nor did I face criminal sanctions,” she said.
“I reached a settlement… because I did not have the evidence required to support what happened. The terms of the settlement were willingly agreed by both parties.”
She said her employer was equally eager to reach a private resolution, and the money she paid was on a “non-admissions basis.”
Regarding a property in France, Winn stated, “What we own in France is an uninhabitable ruin in a bramble patch, on the boundary of a family member’s property.”
“It has missing walls, a collapsed roof, no running water, drainage, or electricity… We have never lived there, that would be impossible, and we haven’t been there since 2007.”
She stated that the insinuation that the pair were not homeless, the central premise of the book, was “utterly unfounded.”
Winn said the couple did attempt to sell the land in 2013, around the same time as events depicted in the book, “but the local agent said it was virtually worthless and saw no point in marketing it.”
Elsewhere in the statement, Winn disputed any suggestion that the couple had outstanding debts, stating that a credit check would confirm this.
She said after receiving an advance for the book and over the subsequent years, “I tracked down our remaining debts and now believe I have tracked down and repaid everyone.”
Winn also explained why she and Moth are not known by their legal names, Timothy and Sally Walker.
The author said Winn was her maiden name, and she disliked her first name, Sally, deciding to use her family name, Raynor, as a pen name. She also noted that Moth was short for Timothy.
She denied that the couple were “hiding behind pseudonyms” and said that their friends use “Sal and Tim interchangeably with Ray and Moth.”
Raynor Winn has defended herself against accusations she gave misleading information in the 2018 book.
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