Latest news with #BillCole
Daily Mail
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Millionaire benefactor who let The Salt Path couple move into his £1million farmhouse after being captivated by their story breaks his silence
The millionaire benefactor who let The Salt Path author Raynor Winn and her husband Moth move into his £1million farmhouse has broken his silence after claims she embezzled thousands from a former employer. Bill Cole, 58, let the couple stay at his stunning Cornwall farm, Haye at St Veep, after being deeply moved by their story of homelessness and Moth's health battle with corticobasal degeneration. But the benefactor claims he was left feeling 'gaslit' and betrayed by the pair after concerns they lied about Moth's health and concealed the real reason for their homelessness. Mr Cole said he was surprised with an announcement by Moth in 2021 that he had been 'told not to plan beyond Christmas ' due to his health, he told The Observer. But when Winn's third book Landlines was published in September 2022, Mr Cole read how in the winter of 2021, a neurologist told Moth his brain was 'normal' - around the same time he told his new landlord the devastating news of his poor health. 'I was reading it on the train, said Mr Cole, 'and I just went ''what the hell? It just makes no sense whatsoever''. 'I feel there is so much more we don't know about these people.' Inaccuracies in The Salt Path, including that the couple lost their home after Sally Walker - Winn's real name - was accused in 2008 of embezzling tens of thousands of pounds from her employer. The revelations create doubt about a central part of Winn's memoir - that the family were made homeless through no fault of their own. Mr Cole had been touched by the plight of the couple and wanted to ensure they wouldn't face homelessness again. 'I felt I was being gaslit,' he said. This week, Winn admitted she has 'deep regret' over mistakes made that led to allegations she embezzled from a former employer. In a bombshell statement, the best-selling writer claimed she was working during a 'pressured time' when errors were being made across the business. Winn, however, denied allegations the financial dispute with ex-boss Martin Hemmings had any relation to the story told in The Salt Path. She claimed the 'bad investment' with a lifetime friend that prompted the couple to lose their home related to an entirely separate legal case. It follows days of backlash against Winn's 2018 memoir - which has been accused of not being as 'unflinchingly honest' as initially billed. Nevertheless Winn has maintained the account given The Salt Path is accurate and described the allegations against her as 'grotesquely unfair' and 'misleading'. The author, who has sold more than two million copies of her book, also said this week she had been left 'devastated' by accusations her husband's illness was fabricated. Winn said: '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. '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.'
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Scandal-hit Salt Path author and her husband 'fell out with millionaire benefactor after moving into his farmhouse' - as claims abound that they misled readers of their hit memoir
Salt Path scandal couple Raynor and Moth Winn were taken in by a millionaire benefactor who let them live in his farmhouse after he was moved by her powerful book - only to fall out after they got to know each other better. Best-selling writer Raynor and her supposedly terminally ill husband have been engulfed in scandal after it emerged a number of key details in her memoir were apparently misreported. Among these was the suggestion that the couple's original walk on the Cornish path that was so popular with readers was prompted when they inadvertently became homeless. But The Observer this week claimed they lost their home as an indirect consequence of Raynor misappropriating tens of thousands of pounds from an employer. She was said to have embezzled £64,000 from a former employer which led to her being arrested - before borrowing money from a relative to avoid prosecution, only losing her Welsh farmhouse home when this was not paid back. The couple were also alleged to have been disingenuous about being homeless as they owned a property in France where they had previously regularly stayed. Now MailOnline has learned that among their fans on the back of the huge success of her memoir was multi-millionaire investment banker turned cider maker, Bill Cole. Mr Cole is understood to have been so moved by their story that, even though he had never met them, he got in touch and he invited them to live in an historic farmhouse that he owns in the countryside near Lostwithiel in Cornwall. Mr Cole, a former partner with Frankton Capital who now describes himself as 'farmer, pirate and impact investor', is understood to have approached the couple after being moved reading the first volume of her hit book series. The couple were living at his property and said they were helping with the cider production when they hosted TV chef and fellow famous Cornwall resident, Rick Stein, and showed him 'how they make cider in the traditional way' for a BBC programme first broadcast in March 2023. Mr Cole, who was at the farmhouse property this week, declined to discuss the couple - real names Sally and Tim Walker - saying: 'Please leave, I'm the farmer here, I've got stuff to do.' But a source told MailOnline that the relationship between the Winns and Mr Cole had deteriorated after they moved in. 'Bill was initially very taken with Raynor and it seemed like a perfect set up but then there was some trouble between them and it all ended badly with them falling out,' the insider said. In an interview with Country Living magazine published last month, Raynor Winn is believed to have discussed Mr Cole's generosity publicly. She said: 'When a stranger contacted me on Twitter with an incredible gesture, I wasn't sure how to respond. 'He owned a disused farm, nestled in the Cornish hills, and asked if Moth and I would like to live there. 'We agonised for months over the decision. It was yet another risk, to give up our home and to trust a stranger, but we decided to do it. She continued; 'When we arrived, the land felt abused and polluted, but we've been hard at work removing plastic sheeting, nourishing the soil and bringing wildlife back to the hedgerows. 'It's become a big rewilding project – and it's worked. A year ago, there were no birds here. Now, there are woodpeckers, yellowhammers and blackcaps. 'It's amazing how quickly nature bounces back if you let it. Like humans really… 'I like to think we're rewilding [her gravely ill husband] Moth as well as the land. By putting him back into his natural state – moving out in the fields all day – his health has improved almost miraculously, just as it did when we were walking the Coast Path. 'As the landscape has become healthier, so has he. Nothing will cure his disease, but we've found a way to keep it at bay.' The publication of this article last month gave the impression the couple's involvement on the cider farm is ongoing. However, locals have seemingly questioned this and claimed the Winns have not been seen around the area for some time. It's unclear how long the lag was between the interview and its publication. When MailOnline visited this week, the pretty farmhouse did not appear to be inhabited. The windows were thick with dust, from the front door it was clear barely any furniture was left in the house and just a few apparently abandoned items of clothing and kitchen appliances were scattered on the floor. Neighbours in the nearby hamlet of St Veep - who knew the couple by their professional pseudonyms Raynor and Moth Winn rather than their real names - claimed they had been seen regularly in the area for some time but have not been around for some time. One near neighbour said: 'As far as I know they've been gone for a while now. 'The farm is owned by a guy from London called Bill and they were tenants. But there was some kind of falling out.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
First In-Depth Poll on Changing U.S. Voter Views of Ukraine War Under President Trump
43% of voters say Trump should put more pressure on Russia to end the War in Ukraine; 7% say he should pressure Ukraine instead WASHINGTON, June 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Peace Through Strength Institute (PTSI) announces the following polling results on American opinions regarding the War in Ukraine: Findings: 74% say the war in Ukraine should be a U.S. priority Only 29% think President Trump should pressure Ukraine to give up land 82% believe allowing countries take land by force sets a dangerous precedent Just 24% support letting Russia keep Crimea; 65% oppose it 84% back a bill to sanction Russia's natural resource sales 76% feel U.S. military aid to Ukraine is justified 58% say Trump should boost military aid to levels to stop Russia; 25% disagree 'This poll shows Americans overwhelmingly believe that a win in Ukraine is a win for President Trump and a win for America,' said Bill Cole, Founder of the Peace Through Strength Institute. 'It puts Russia on defense, advances our drone dominance, and strengthens U.S. leadership without sending American troops.' 'This isn't foreign aid,' Cole stated. 'It's a strategic investment.' 'Voters understand we either stop Putin now—or face a far more dangerous and expensive war later,' Cole added. Polling was conducted in late May of likely American voters by David Wolfson, Republican Pollster, and Faculty Lecturer at Columbia University's Political Analytics Graduate Program. The polling results can be viewed here and detailed polling analysis here The survey polling methodology was via SMS/MMS Text to Web with a 95% Confidence Level, 3% standard margin of error, and n=1000 completed responses. The Peace Through Strength Institute (PTSI) is a U.S.-based policy think-tank committed to aligning America's global engagement with its national interests. Military aid and foreign policy must deliver tangible results for the American people—strengthening allies, degrading threats through decisive action in an age of rising global instability. CONTACT:Bill Cole, Founder, Peace Through Strength Institutebillcole@ +1 408-205-1362Sign in to access your portfolio
