The family of the businessman who Salt Path writer Raynor Winn allegedly stole £64,000 from have reacted furiously to her claim that it was just a mistake.
Scandal-hit Winn has admitted she has ‘deep regret’ over mistakes made that led to allegations of the embezzlement from Martin Hemmings’ business and her arrest.
Mr Hemmings died before details of the missing money ever became public – and today friends of his widow said that the episode had ‘destroyed him’ while his daughter claimed he felt ‘ripped off’ and ‘let down’ by the best-selling author.
Winn claimed she was working during a ‘pressured time’ when errors were being made across Mr Hemmings’ estate agency business.
She has denied allegations the financial dispute with ex-boss Mr Hemmings, who has since died, had any relation to the story told in The Salt Path.
It follows days of backlash against Winn’s 2018 memoir – which has been accused of not being as ‘unflinchingly honest’ as initially billed.
Speaking from her remote Welsh cottage, Mr Hemmings’ daughter Debbie said: ‘He felt he was ripped off by her, which he was.
‘My mum is still angry and frustrated by it as my dad was upset about it.
Salt Path writer Raynor Winn has admitted she has ‘deep regret’ over mistakes made that led to allegations of the embezzlement from Martin Hemmings’ business and her arrest.
Following an investigation into their backgrounds, The Observer said that The Salt Path’s protagonists, Raynor Winn (right) and her husband, Moth Winn (left), could have misled fans
Released in 2018, The Salt Path details the Winns’ decision to embark on the South West Coast Path when they lose their home after investing a ‘substantial sum’ into a friend’s business which ultimately failed
‘He felt really let down by it all.
‘But I don’t feel angry any more as I have parked it.
‘But I’m not sure my mum has.’
A close friend of her mother Ros Hemmings told MailOnline that she and her late husband were ‘saddened and very frustrated’ that Winn – real name Sally Walker – had escaped any punishment for her alleged theft.
‘On the other hand, at least they got the money back, said the friend.
‘If things had gone differently, and Walker had not been able to come up with the money then she may have been prosecuted, probably would not have gone to jail and ended up doing community service.
‘Then she’d have been repaying their money at some paltry rate such as £5 a week for the rest of her life.
‘So although it wasn’t a perfect solution, it was probably better than the alternative.’
Winn has been accused of omitting key elements of her story in her account of losing her home before embarking on a 630-mile trek of the South West Coast Path
In the book, Winn said she and her husband Moth lost a fortune – and their 17th century farmhouse in Pwllheli, Wales – due to a bad investment in a friend’s business
Winn has been accused of omitting key elements of her story in her account of losing her home before embarking on a 630-mile trek of the South West Coast Path.
In the book, Winn said she and her husband Moth lost a fortune – and their 17th century farmhouse in Pwllheli, Wales – due to a bad investment in a friend’s business.
But an investigation carried out by The Observer uncovered allegations she had in fact embezzled £64,000 from Mr Hemmings’ estate agents and was allegedly later arrested.
A loan was then allegedly taken out to avoid prosecution and when this was not paid their home was sold, it has been claimed.
Mr Hemmings’ wife Ros told The Observer that the alleged embezzlement devastated her late husband.
She said: ‘It absolutely destroyed him because he was a very trusting, kind person.’
Winn herself said in a statement: ‘The dispute with Martin Hemmings, referred to in the Observer by his wife, is not the court case in The Salt Path.
‘Nor did it result in us losing our home. Mr Hemmings is not Cooper. Mrs Hemmings is not in the book, nor is she a relative of someone who is.
The Winns with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, the stars of the recent film adaptation. It has been claimed that the couple may have made millions from the book and movie
‘I worked for Martin Hemmings in the years before the economic crash of 2008. For me it was 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.’
The author also said she had been left ‘devastated’ by accusations her husband’s illness was fabricated.
The Salt Path tells the story of how Moth was diagnosed with the terminal condition corticobasal degeneration (CBD), just after they had been made homeless.
Questions have also been raised about Moth’s debilitating illness – a rare neurological condition in the same family as Parkinson’s disease, which is central to the book.
The life expectancy for sufferers after diagnosis is around six to eight years, according to the NHS – however Moth has been living with the condition for 18 years with no apparent visible symptoms.
Following an investigation into their backgrounds, The Observer said that Winn and Moth, previously went by their less flamboyant legal names, Sally and Tim Walker.
And rather than being forced out of their home in rural Wales when an investment in a childhood friend’s business went awry, as the book suggested, it is alleged that the property was repossessed after Winn stole tens of thousands of pounds from Mr Hemmings.
Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in the film adaptation of The Salt Path, released in May
When the couple failed to repay a loan taken out with a relative to repay the stolen money – agreed on terms that the police would not be further involved – they lost their home, it is claimed.
Released in 2018, The Salt Path details the Winns’ decision to embark on the South West Coast Path when they lose their home after investing a ‘substantial sum’ into a friend’s business which ultimately failed.
In the book, Winn writes: ‘We lost. Lost the case. Lost the house.’
The memoir then describes their subsequent walk to salvation, wild camping en route and living on around £40 per week, and is described as a ‘life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world.’
It prompted two sequels and the film adaptation, which was released in May, starring The X Files’ Anderson and Isaacs, who recently starred in HBO’s The White Lotus.
The Winns posed for photographs alongside the actors on the red carpet in London at the film’s premiere.
