Raynor Winn denies new allegations of theft from family members

Raynor Winn, the author of The Salt Path, has denied fresh allegations that she stole money from members of her family, describing the claims as part of a “false narrative” about her life.

The writer responded after her niece alleged that Winn had written a letter more than a decade ago setting out details of taking money from her mother and from her parents-in-law. Winn has strongly denied the allegations and said she did not write the letter.

The Observer said it verified the contents of the alleged letter, which appear in a new Sky documentary, with four members of Winn’s family and four relatives of her husband, Timothy “Moth” Walker. It reported that Winn’s niece said the letter had been given to her by Winn’s sister before her death last year. Winn reportedly declined an invitation to meet and discuss the allegations. A statement issued by representatives for Winn, whose real name is Sally Walker, dismissed the claims.

“Tortoise Media’s Observer and documentary makers continue to spread a false narrative about my life, despite me having addressed them in my earlier statement,” she said.

“It is a great source of sadness that Tortoise Media’s Observer and documentary makers are now seeking to drive a wedge between our family members. The family have always been able to share their concerns privately, and they still can.

“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.”

The latest claims follow an ongoing controversy in which Winn has been accused of fabricating aspects of her bestselling 2018 memoir. The Salt Path describes Winn’s experience of walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path with Moth, after the couple lost their home in Wales, and Moth was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

An investigation by the Observer presented legal documents and witnesses who alleged 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. The couple’s account that long-distance walking reversed Moth’s symptoms has also been questioned by medical experts.

In the latest allegation, Winn’s niece claims that Winn typed a letter confessing that she had taken £25,000 from her husband’s parents after getting into financial difficulty. The alleged incident is said to have happened around the same time that Winn was accused of taking £67,000 from her employer in 2008. In a July statement, Winn said: “Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”

The Observer reported that the letter was addressed to Winn’s sister and states: “Please don’t look any further for the money. I’ve taken it. All of it. I have to ask you not to take things any further with the bank, but tell them it was just a mistake … I have a police record and should this go any further I will go to prison this time.

“In a mid panic when the mortgage was threatening to foreclose, I transferred £25,000 from Tim’s mum and dad’s account to Tim’s.” It also says that the couple were forced to live in a barn conversion on their property after being left with hardly any money.

Winn is said to have made millions of pounds from sales of the memoir, events and the film adaptation of The Salt Path, which starred Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

In the statement responding to the new claims, Winn reiterated that her husband was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, now often referred to as corticobasal syndrome, describing this as “a fact”, and said the couple lost their home because of “a financial dispute with a lifelong friend, as described in the book”.

“To everyone who has read and loved my books, thank you,” she said. “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.”