Raynor Winn, author of the bestselling memoir The Salt Path, has rejected fresh allegations that she stole money from family members, describing the claims as part of a “false narrative” about her life. The allegations, reported by The Observer and featured in a new Sky documentary, involve a letter purportedly written by Winn more than a decade ago confessing to taking £25,000 from her husband’s parents.
Winn’s niece stated that the letter was given to her by Winn’s sister before her death last year. The Observer said it verified the letter’s contents with four of Winn’s relatives and four relatives of her husband, Timothy “Moth” Walker. Winn declined an invitation to meet and discuss the allegations, and her representatives issued a statement dismissing the claims.
In her statement, Winn said: “I did not steal from family, as others can confirm. Nor have I confessed to doing so and I did not write the letter suggesting I did.” She accused Tortoise Media, which owns The Observer, and the documentary makers of seeking to “drive a wedge between our family members.”
The latest claims follow earlier controversy over Winn’s 2018 memoir, which describes walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path with Moth after losing their home and his terminal diagnosis. An Observer investigation presented legal documents and witnesses alleging that the couple lost their home after Winn took out a private mortgage to repay tens of thousands of pounds she was alleged to have taken from her employer. Medical experts have also questioned the account that long-distance walking reversed Moth’s symptoms.
Winn reiterated that her husband’s diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration is “a fact” and that the couple lost their home due to “a financial dispute with a lifelong friend, as described in the book.” She added: “To everyone who has read and loved my books, thank you. Nothing has changed. The Salt Path remains my honest recollection of the time when we lost our house and found hope on the coast path.”
