Thread 21 : To feel disappointed - and now disgusted too - after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

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

First thread: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film? | Mumsnet

Links to threads 2-16, the other 20 Observer articles and videos to date, Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement, our timeline and sources can all be accessed in the OP and first few posts of Thread 17: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5403285-thread-17-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 18: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5422393-thread-18-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 19: www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5437058-thread-19-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

Thread 20: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5454438-thread-20-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 are welcome. It would be helpful to get the background from at least some of the Observer exposé items before posting.
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. Remember, even Hollywood rabbits attract the odd flea. Please do not engage with drive-by scolders and ploppers 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. Over 5 months we have done amazingly well together for 20 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.

Keep to the path. No saltiness. Our Cardboard Mascot Our Simon has had his head stuck back on and is wearing a very fetching tinsel boa. The charabanc is bedecked with fairy lights and very well stocked up. May the seasonal fudge and mulled cider be with you one and all. 🎅🌲🎁❄️🎄

These threads are the gifts that keep on giving:
New:

• Salt Path: A Very British Scandal, available from Monday 15th December Sky Documentaries and NOW TV
• ‘Don’t look for the money. I’ve taken it all’: Salt Path author Raynor Winn’s ‘confession’ that she stole from her family | The Observer

Up and coming:

• Observer Newsroom: The Real Salt Path Story, Thursday 8th January 2026 6.30-7.30pm. More information and to book via this link observer.co.uk/our-events/the-real-salt-path-story
• Podcast series from The Observer's award-winning Investigative Journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou
• BBC Documentary (NB Not involving Our Chloe)

*MNHQ correcting above 'Documentary' to 'Podcast' at request of author

NO POSTS PLEASE UNTIL THREAD 20 IS FULL

Just happened to read this brilliant quote by Hanif Kureshi ' Charm is a deadly deceiver, and it mostly deceives those who have it'. Brings a certain someone to mind!

I wonder if they were going for Parkinson's before the golden egg of CBD was dreamt up.

Fascinating. Many thanks for doing this

The lack of any real apology is startling! My siblings would be livid & as for ‘if it’s any consolation to you I feel better writing this’ they’d be puce with rage! They’d say funnily enough we don’t care about how YOU feel! In fact we’re taking action…SO it is NOT OVER!

Tim is painted as an ill, meek, highly depressed victim.

Would walking with indolent Parkinsons not have pulled at the heart strings in same way?

This is what i suspect. Except CBD landed in their lap and they went with it.

One would expect a prior Parkinson's diagnosis would be mentioned in the 2015 letter, especially given several tests used to detect neuron damage - all negative in 2011 -are mentioned.

This suggests that what Sal wrote about TW having Parkinson's in her litany of excuses for theft was unsubstantiated and undocumented in TW's records. Rather, it was most likely invented, given the context.

Although I think it would be uncharacteristic that there is an apology in the rest of the letter, we don't actually know that. In CH's narration, she reads out the proof to substantiate her reporting. The letter seemed to be about two pages long, so who knows what was in the rest of it.

This is true of course. There may be a heartfelt apology that covers...ooh, at least half a line... From the general tone of what we've seen I'd be surprised if it was even that long.

I think the emphasis, going forward, has to be on the medical condition. I was recently in a neurology ward and you do get asked a lot of questions. The answers to those questions are important. Likewise, whether close family members have had certain conditions.

It is striking how the term 'atypical' occurs in all the medical letters in the statement.

The timing also crucial - does the whole odd night in a tent making sure seen walk hinge on a lie (?)

I think you are right. The place to concentrate ire is on the CBD or lack thereof. Sal being a thieving liar is neither here nor there really in the terms of her ability to write a book. Plenty of authors wouldn't stand up to much scrutiny were people to trawl through our personal histories. It makes her an execrable human being, but shouldn't impact on the ability to write - it's a massaging of the truth when it comes to subject matter.

But claiming her husband was terminally ill (and his claiming it himself with his 'two months to live') is documented, provable and a HUGE part of the books. Given the message it sends to other sufferers and that so much of the 'unflinching honesty' in the books is dependent on it... maybe concentrating on the non-existant diagnosis and the discrepancy in dates is enough?

Maybe & the relevance & importance of a ‘2015’ diagnosis lost on most (?)

I did mention the discrepancy in dates. The whole 'we walked after becoming homeless (let's just forget the why of this, shall we?) and Tim's diagnosis of CBD in 2013 when he wasn't even diagnosed with anything until 2015' went without saying, I hoped.

Although I am still gritting my teeth about the whole Christopher Bland 'First Book Award' stuff I am breathing carefully and am prepared to let that go....

Rub me down with another chilled fudge bar, people!

Don't worry @Vroomfondleswaistcoat, when Salray is outed for making false health claims, people will find that a lot harder to excuse, I don't think they will still say, but it's a nice book. That would be my hope, combine that with CH being able to prove Salray wrote the raffle book and I think the Christopher Bland award will be easy to revoke, probably won't be able to get the money back though :)

Gillian A & Jason expressing disappointment might in some way stop further denial & brazen behaviour. Is Salray feeling guilty at premiere when she mentions homeless people have a ‘story’ & we should all look much more favourably…

Tim gambled half of their assets so why are we not angry with him for doing such a mindless thing ?
He massively cocked up there , but he could have got of his arse and tried to make good of it by finding a well paid job.

The Bland relative re: the prize, who wrote so well on this whole debacle, seemed not too bothered re: deceit. He flagged others similarly inventive & dishonest so…

He added he knew that Sal would win ahead of time due to publicity etc. I’d like to hear from & about the deserving (& cheated) runners up. We’ve shifted, as the recent furore on Walliams shows, from what’s decent & ‘right’, towards £££ & publicity. Who cares about morals, they’re outdated & don’t make anyone rich.

He was apparently very ill & depressed.

I think SalRay being a fraudster with TimMoth at her side is very relevant. Otherwise it will be written off as “she thought he had CBD at the time” it’s a bit harder to forgive any “mistakes” if there is a trail of oooopsies leading to their door.

Absolutely. I sadly feel the same way. When I choose a book, I read the back cover, the first few paragraphs but sometimes the deciding factor will be the quotes from critics who’ve been asked for their reviews. New books are little luxuries and customers make be less willing to commit if they no longer trust these or think that prizes are just given out carelessly. So many good people endorsed the Raynor Winn books. All these people whose reviews were printed inside and out should be approached now for second opinions. Further, if these books continue to be printed they should not contain quotes or endorsements from people who have changed their minds. Why should anybody continue to have their praise used as a selling tool on a set of books and an “author” who has no merit and whose work consists of a few grains of truth embellished with a lot borrowed from other authors and packed with brazen lies? Yes, other books which are deserving of this genre may very well suffer from the run off of sewerage that’s leaked from hers.

Well, do we know that to actually be the case? Personally I wouldn't believe Sal if she told me the date, I'd want to check with a calendar.

She might be blaming stuff on Tim that she was actually guilty of. She might be saying that he 'gambled their assets' when really the huge money hole was due to neither of them having a high earning enough job to support their standards of living. But 'it was Tim, he was ill,' is one of those things where it's hard to say 'no it wasn't,' unless he himself said it.

I don’t think they would have been able to pull that off unless he was properly diagnosed with it and was able to receive the new treatments that have had success. I did do some reading up on Parkinson’s because a very dear friend of mine got it and sadly died with it quite recently. I won’t go into detail but once diagnosed, it took five years before he ended up unable to talk coherently, unable to eat, was in a wheelchair and his immune system was so compromised that a cold virus killed him. I’m sure the Walkers would know that Tim didn’t have Parkinson’s and that they’d never be able to pretend that he had when time passed before she wrote TSP.
There was some other discussion on this back in the mists of earlier threads, but I can’t remember which now!

when he wasn't even diagnosed with anything until 2015'

He wasn't diagnosed with anything in 2015 either.

As far as medical letters go he's never been diagnosed with anything to this date.

That isn’t how it’s been presented or what vast majority believe…Unfortunately.

True! But names of illness are wafted about in a vague sort of way in 2015. In 2013 there's not even any hint that he was even ill at all.