MNHQ here: AMA with award winning investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou, Weds 28th Jan, 7-9pm

[RhiannonEMumsnet]

Hi there,

We’re delighted to announce an AMA with award winning investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou on Wednesday 28th January, 7-9pm.

Chloe is the Observer’s narrative editor, and she’s best known for her work exploring the story behind Raynor Winn’s memoir The Salt Path - which you can hear more about in this new Observer podcast.

Please post your questions for Chloe below and join her on the thread on Wednesday evening to hear the answers.

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil.

Thanks,
MNHQ

A handwriting expert has said it is highly probable that the hand written letters were written by SW. The Observer has understood that she has not denied writing them but that she does not remember writing them. That is as much as I know and can say.

This is a complete aside, but @OurChloe do you think it was realistic that the (thin, grey haired Timoth) was really and very frequently mistaken for (the burly, dark) Simon Armitage?

None of us do!

Cooper's widow told me that when TW drove down to London to collect SW after she had secured the loan and paid back the missing money to the Hemmings, TW told her that he had discovered that SW had taken out lots of credit cards in both their names and maxed them out. I also found lots of county court judgements from 2013 - 2015 which showed unpaid debts to banks - could have been over drafts or loans - not clear.
According to family they were living beyond their means.

he knew their legal names because they paid him rent from their bank account which is in their legal names. He said they always referred to each other as Sal and Tim - he assumed Raynor and Moth were just public names. He didn't imagine anything underhand about the names.

I have spoken to 4 people from Tim's family and 4 from Sally's family. All have corroborated the story I have told about the thefts. No one else from the two families has been in touch. On her website SW insinuates that there are 'others' who believe she did not steal money. I do not know who they are and they have not been in touch with me. I did try to reach out to another member of Tim's family who told me they felt too uncomfortable to speak but did not dispute anything.

I was given it by someone SW contacted and sent it to because they were referred to in it. I would rather not say who because i have not asked their permission.

Is SW scheduled to appear at any book festivals this year? They usually secure appearances months in advance i believe
. I think this would be a good indicator of whether she intends to dip a toe back into the water.

I'm speechless at this. Walter Mitty, trolling.

ETA, we had a family member who had very creditable military service, but in civilian life had to push it just a bit further, including his out of army activities. Noone harmed by it so everyone just smiled benignly. He was a nice man.

The issue with Raymoth is all the damage caused.

She does exist but did not rent the flat to them at the time TSP claims but it looks likely that it was actually at the beginning of 2016. She still owns the chapel flat in Polruan and I did try to reach out to her many times but she did not respond. I don't know how she met them or what kind of offer she made them.
The Costa Rican cafe owner confirmed that Tim and Sal did come to his cafe as backpackers, did meet Anna, did get the offer of accommodation in Polruan and did dance outside the cafe with joy. They also drank a couple of bottles of Corona afterwards. Pretty much as described in TSP BUT this was not the Talland Bay Cafe - it was another place. And it happened in 2016

Hi Chloe, thank you for the excellent podcast and articles. It does feel important to have the measure of accuracy in this story which has now been reintroduced.

I have two questions, if you have time.

Did you feel the story has some parallels to health bloggers who have been found to have made dangerous unfounded health claims and that exposing all this was in the public interest on that basis in the same way as it has been for those?

Some memoirists/travel writers (Bruce Chadwin perhaps) have in the past had it suggested they were not entirely accurate, but the quality of the writing meant there was literary merit and the work stands alone on that basis, even if not actually entirely accurate. Do you think anyone will put forward this literary merit vindication of TSP?

I very much doubt it. I think the police may feel it is too long ago and the victims all deceased now. I would be surprised if the authorities came after them for benefit fraud so long after the fact. And it might be hard and very costly to prove a loss of income because of the descriptions in TSP.
I think Penguin might have a legal case given that it is very likely that SW signed a contract saying she was liable for the truth of her story - I don't know for sure she signed this but am told it is standard. Though I very much doubt Penguin would want the publicity such a legal case would bring.

Simon Armitage would not respond to me - not very friendly. Angela Harding and I do talk - she has asked me not to speak publicly about her situation with the art work on the book covers and I will respect her wishes.

Publishers and agent would have know legal names because all bank and legal documents would have been in their real names.
Maxine was receiving letters in their real names - it was only people in Pwllheli who told her who SW was and that she had another name and had written books.

Do you think you'll ever meet SW in person?

PS Thanks for coming here and answering our questions!

She has not responded to me directly at all since my first email to her in March 2025. Her lawyers respond on her behalf. I have heard from them - I was asked if The Observer was threatened with legal action - we have not been. But all coms are through her legal team. I can't say more about the emails because they are headed NOT FOR PUBLICATION and I must respect this.

I can't really answer questions like this - I am not in a position to advise nor to recommend she pay some kind of price for her actions. My job is to get to the truth and explain if the public has been duped in some way.

If there is any time left: did Christopher Bland rules specifically say that "self-published" books don't count, or have they just said that that should be (conveniemtly) be assumed? Asking for a friend.

Cheeky extra question

We have been riding alongside your investigations, which has been quite exciting for us to see some of the twists and turns, but for you is this just the usual nature of a story? Is it always such a wild ride?

it is very difficult to say. It seems to have been a company for the family - the four hares being the 4 members of the family - SW, TW and their two children. Not much money has gone into here so the money from books and film must be going through a different company or financial vehicle - one not registered in their legal names in the UK. If it is off-shore or abroad it may be impossible to trace.

I doubt it!! I would love to meet her. I have asked to speak to her over a dozen times but she clearly does not want to engage with me. She may decide to do a 'tell-all' interview at some point but it's unlikely to be with me. I believe she has had some big money offers for such an interview already but can't verify that.

I there are lots of parallels with other new age nature / wellness cures. I am sure many of these are dangerous. Polly Atkin is very good on this - she is a memoirist and an anti-nature cures one!
Lies in 'true stories' are as old as the genre itself I suspect. The one that really floored me recently was Oliver Sacks!

I checked the rules and they did change the year after Raynor won it.

We have been disturbed that the books continue to be advertised and marketed in this way:

Raynor knows that her husband Moth's health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure: the healing power of walking.

Do you think Penguin doesn't see the damage it has done to its reputation?

As far as I know she has not appeared publicly since my revelations. I have not seen any sign that is changing.