Thread 3: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

The Observer The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

Thread One ^www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?^

Thread 2 Thread 2. To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet

To my reading, that statement seems to not entirely put the potential embezzlement issue to bed.

"I reached a settlement with Mr H because I didn't have the evidence to support what happened" could be interpreted as "I couldn't prove I hadn't embezzled the money."

What do you think?

With so many NDAs flying around its always going to be difficult to get to the bottom of this saga. Irrespective of how this plays out in the media (DM v the Observer?), as far as I am concerned the waters are so muddied that I will never again buy a book authored by Raynor Winn. If others wish to, good luck to them.

I am a doctor.

The neurologist who dictated the letters does mention several positive clinical findings which can be associated with CBS and other parkison-type illnesses.

He does say that CBD/CBS is one possibility, but that the course is so indolent (ie slow and almost benign) that other rarer things may have to be considered.

Is it only me who keeps thinking of Richard Armitage? The only Armitage I could identify :)

Tim doesn't look like him either!

I'm a Simon Armitage fan, he's written some brilliant stuff (IMO, poetry very subjective) and does a lot to raise the profile as Poet Laureate.

That reds very boo hoo but I would imagine it will be picked apart and Chloe’s phone will be lighting up with people making counter claims

i actually think it’s too long

as for his health - the letters seem to prove that she lied about his diagnosis but he is obviously unwell - just not the way she claimed

As a former PA albeit in large companies, I can honestly say that invoices were sent to the accountants to deal with.

In a smaller business, you wouldn't get away with it on end of year accounts for tax purposes.

The medical letters don't explain the disappearing measurable clinical signs on the scans that were there and later gone as far as I can see. I freely say I could be wrong.

Also did his neurologist diagnose him with CBD or did Tim tell him he was previously diagnosed with CBD?

I note one of the letters Sally posted says ‘he has little in the way of personal medical background’.

I think her 'explanation' of the financial matters raises more questions than it answers.

However the medical stuff checks out to me, as in he had a working diagnosis of CBD, albeit progressing far more slowly than expected.

Thankyou. I must say that as a bit of a wonky donkey myself, I would be extremely impressed by such lengthy letters.

The best I get in the wonderful French health service is having to log on to, "Mon Espace Sante" where they all talk in shorthand to each other via email and I'm meant to decipher it.

Well, as above, the letter from 2015 says that previous tests in 2011 were all normal; it reads to me that at that point, no diagnosis had been made.

Crucially both Cooper and Hemminga are dead so cannot come forward to support or reject any claims

You may be right - possibly a bidding war among the tabloids for "their story"

Oh yes. The 'Any mistakes I made in that office, I truly regret' bit = 'they know I took it, and there's some evidence to make me look bad but maybe not enough to win it for them in court, so I'm going to maintain it was a genuine mistake' 🤔

"He has little in the way of personal medical background" I take to mean that he had been fit and healthy, with no significant previous medical problems, prior to this. It's not a comment on any lack of medical training.

This is minor in the scheme of things but it's yet more proof of her being economical with the truth.

From this article:

www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/raynor-winn-interview-salt-path-wild-silence-author

'It’s difficult to read either of Winn’s books without wondering about Moth’s condition; the good news is that the pair continue to put one foot in front of another. This spring, they will walk the length of the UK – from the top of Scotland back to their new home.'

The 3rd book, Landlines, documents this journey. It was meant to be just the Cape Wrath Trail in Scotland. Their friend Dave suggests that they will end up walking home, an idea they laugh off. But at the end of that trail they decide to continue on the next one heading south, and so on, and on, until they do indeed end up walking home.

But according to the article they had always intended to walk the whole way home from Scotland.

I guess this comes down to the question of how much poetic licence is acceptable in a memoir. It doesn't affect the essence of the story in the same way that the circumstances of how they lost their home does.

The dispute with Martin Hemmings, referred to in the Observer by his wife, is not the court case in The Salt Path.

The Observer article didn't suggest that it was.

Nor did it result in us losing our home.

Perhaps not directly, that would be the stonking loan

Mr Hemmings is not Cooper. Mrs Hemmings is not in the book, nor is she a relative of someone who is.

Don't think anyone has suggested this, but who are "Rebecca" and "James"?

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.

Like the bookkeeper embezzling?

Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.

Hmm.

THE EMBEZZLEMENT - the two accounts.

Ros Hemmings states Sally Walker was found to have stolen money in 2008. This is repaid by Walker. The Hemmings discover more money missing, a total of £64,000. They call the police, Walker is arrested, then disappears.

Ros Hemmings states a lawyer then contacted them to say Walker would repay the money, but no criminal charges would be brought, and Martin Hemmings must sign a NDA.

Sally Walker's account:

It was a pressured time. Mistakes were made in the business. Any mistakes she made she is sorry for. She was not charged with anything. She did not have the evidence to support what happened [note that she doesn't say what happened]. She reached a settlement with Martin Hemmings.

I know who I believe. Why on earth reach a settlement to pay £64,000 to someone you don't owe it to?

If she hadn’t stolen the money why would she have paid them back and had an NDA put in place?

What other illnesses might they have considered? If it's possible CBD isn't it, what might mimic those symptoms and possibly cause confusion over diagnosis?

The first medical letter, with the probable diagnosis, that refers to having no objection to him starting his studies, but that was after they did the walk?

Bit confusing.

The neurologist seems a bit in thrall to the cult of celebrity, offering his services to the film makers.

Thank you. There doesn't seem to be any terminal diagnosis? It seems to say that the progression is so slow that it might be something else?

The book is sold on the premise that he had a terminal diagnosis.

Yeah, £64,000 is a pretty big oopsie to make when you're doing the books.