Thread 13: 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's original exposé: The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

The 12 Observer reports currently available online: The real Salt Path | The Observer

Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement: Raynor Winn

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

Threads 2-11: Links all in the OP of Thread 12

Thread 12: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5384574-thread-12-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

New posters joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse welcome. It would be helpful to read at least some of the Observer items above before posting. There are currently 12 interesting items on The Observer website and linked to above.

To all - Please be extremely cautious when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no direct connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Please do not engage with visitors who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail. Avoid @'ing and quoting them as - from experience - this will only encourage them back to the threads. We have done amazingly well together for twelve very interesting, very serious and very silly threads so far. I can't be here as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion walking along in our usual reasonable and respectful fashion is very welcome.

Have the sales or thefts of fudge gone up recently?
Will Simon's head ever turn up?
Has the shed of doubt yet burst at the seams?
Will the old charabanc hold up as a tour bus for our hip new band The Drive-By Scolders?
And finally, how much salt can we possibly cram into a giant pinch?

Keep to the path. No saltiness. May the fudge be with you.

How odd, IMO, to word this as though it's a current ongoing walk "we've reached" and not describe it as part of their previous and most celebrated walk "at this point we reached" or "this is where we'd reached". Really strange for a writer, for whom words are tools to be used with precision etc.

It says the person bought them tickets then and there from the box office. Implying that it wasn't a sold out performance and tickets were available on the night. Not sure how plausible that is.

My guess is that during the homeless path walk period they were using either their repossessed home address, or one of TW's family members' address, for correspondence, and so they put that on the university application. They may have also researched the advantage of looking like they were still Welsh residents and decided to milk it.

Implausibility note: TSP says he had a Skype interview but that really wasn't common for that purpose in 2013 (edit: or 2014/15 ish when this is set) It might be used for international communication but for a job or college interview with someone in the UK, I think they'd expect you to make the journey.

Is this how people get told off on the thread? It’s the second PM message I’ve read tonight. I’d be very nervous if you said it to me (not least because I have no clue how to find my PMs!)

I've seen a couple of posts that suggest that indeed during the week in question there were tickets available at the door on the night when Raymoth could have been there.

Crucial evidence imo as there is no other data stamp with 3rd party witnesses that can prove whether they were there in 2013 or 2015/6.

If you go to the top of the page and click on the little ^ shaped sign* next to the icon of a person on the right side, it's the 3rd option in the drop down menu.

(*pointing downwards before you click)

No idea.

I spotted she deleted 3 more today. Two were regarding 2020 talks, one with an online Woman and Nature book club and another with author Clover Stroud, the third was of a view of sea foam, with low sun on the horizon, at the turn of 2023/4. No clues as to why she deleted them.

Ha, usually it is but I can assure you this time it was not the case!

Because she doesn’t want others to tap up Clover etc for info.

It does seem so. Other posts made it clear an image was part of the walk, often referencing relevant page numbers in TSP, like this one I've added.

Nothing to fear @Choux , honestly! Sometimes I'm replying to a PM I have received, sometimes I'm asking the person to withdraw a post, sometimes it's another matter to keep the thread ticking along well. It is also a good idea to let people know that you are sending a PM so that they don't miss it, and out of politeness to prevent any concern about who a PM might be from before opening it. That is why I post 'I've sent you a PM'. No telling-offs ever on here, just drive-by scoldings!

Or her Martin Hemmings one.

Of course it's all about ass-covering for the publisher, that's exactly my point.

And when a publisher chooses to publish a supposedly true story that accuses an identifiable person that has won a court case of not actually having a claim, saying there is clear written evidence that he did not have that claim and that that evidence was presented to the court but rejected on a technicality, they would have to be very sure that person had no reason to sue them for defamation.

Because in cases of libel, a publisher is as responsible as the author, so it is in his own interest to as you say cover their ass.
https://gjohnsonsolicitor.com/en/media-law-defamation-libel-and-privacy-lawyers/libel-and-slander-faq.html

And that ass would absolutely not be covered by relying on some wooly author statement like 'it's my emotional truth that I feel I did not actually owe that money and you should take my word for it and not demand actual proof'.

The only way they could be sure they would never be sued by Cooper is if they knew Cooper does not exist.
They would then obviously know they were publishing a lie, but a lie is not libel and therefore does not lead to them potentially ending up in court and having to pay damages.

I can indeed confirm that @AldoGordo is innocent today at least 😇

If you need a chaser to 500 Mile Walkies by Mark Wallington, this book by Spud Talbot-Ponsonby might hit the spot!

Two Feet, Four Paws, walking the dog 4,500 miles – Spud Talbot-Ponsonby – Lattermilds bokblogg

I think you must be on the website not the app?

I thought the car being abandoned at Llandudno was when she went to London to borrow the 100k from moths relative. A few years prior.

I've sent you a PM @Choux (so that you don't feel left out 😄and so that you can see where to find them and have a try if you want to).

Yes, does the app hide it better?

Wasn’t the abandoned car when the police had started investigating the embezzlement: she was supposed to report to the police station but absconded to London to borrow money to pay back what had been stolen?

Do you think there’s some targeted IG deletions and then a few other random ones because she knows people are watching and unearthing more uncomfortable inconsistencies and untruths? Trying to throw people off the scent, so to speak?

She mentions recharging the phone a few times. In cafes usually.

Yes, I thought that this bit read - with the background knowledge we have now - like a massively guilty reaction. An 'oh shit, they've found us out' moment. There'd be little reason to think the perpetrators knew who was taking the house let alone anything more about them.

Maybe. Weird though. I'd have thought she'd realise by now that deleting things only looks like she has something to hide.

I feel I should read TWS and LL to get the full picture. I keep relying on others who have. Not sure if I can bring myself to go there though.