Latest news with #Pwllheli
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
‘Salt Path author stole £64,000 from my father – the truth needs to be told'
A woman who claimed the author of The Salt Path stole £64,000 from her parent's business has said 'the truth needs to be told'. Debbie Adams and her mother Ros Hemmings alleged Raynor Winn stole about £64,000 while working for the family's property business. It is one of several allegations that have cast doubt on the accuracy of Winn's best-selling memoir. The Salt Path, which tells the story of the author and her husband, Moth, walking the 630-mile coastal path, claimed the couple made the trek after losing their home in north Wales following a poor investment in a friend's business. However, an investigation by The Observer claimed she actually lost the property after stealing from her former employers, the Hemmings family. The alleged theft is said to have occurred while she worked part-time as a bookkeeper for the family's estate agency and property surveyor in Pwllheli, north Wales, from the early 2000s. Winn has called The Observer report 'highly misleading' but admitted she 'deeply regrets' certain 'mistakes' in her past. In her first public comments, Ms Adams, 46, described how the alleged theft affected her father, Martin Hemmings, who died in 2012. She recalled getting a phone call from him, when she was aged about 29, in which he told her that money was missing from the business's accounts. She told the BBC: 'I had a phone call from dad saying he was worried about the business. [He said] 'I don't know what's gone wrong, there's no money in the account, I don't know what to do.' 'He said: 'I just don't know what's gone wrong, I'm working every hour God gives me and there's no money'. 'About five days later he rings up and goes, she [Winn] has been nicking money. I was like, 'dad come on now, no. Surely there's something gone wrong?' He said 'no, we've had a look and there's money missing'.' It is claimed that Mr Hemmings had noticed Winn failing to deposit a large sum of money in 2008, prompting him to conduct an audit and find that around £9,000 was missing from the previous few months. Winn is said to have paid him back after arriving at the couple's house with a cheque for £9,000. However, after revisiting years of the business's financial paperwork, Mr Hemmings allegedly discovered she had stolen £64,000. It has been claimed that, to avoid criminal prosecution, Winn allegedly borrowed £100,000, secured against their house, and repaid the money to the couple. This loan was later called in and their house was repossessed, it has been claimed. The Hemmings family have said they were left frustrated by Winn's subsequent rise to fame. The Salt Path spent nearly two years on The Sunday Times bestseller list after it was published in 2018, and its film adaptation, starring Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson, was released in May. Ms Adams said: 'I don't wish ill of them. I just wish that they would tell the truth, and the truth needs to be told.' Her mother, who has not read the book, added: 'I'd have stamped on the book I think. Just to gloss over why they ran out of money to me was shocking.' Winn has issued a lengthy statement responding to the claims and said she was receiving legal advice. She wrote: '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. 'Mr Hemmings made an allegation against me to the police, accusing me of taking money from the company. I was questioned, I was not charged, nor did I face criminal sanctions. 'I reached a settlement with Martin Hemmings because I did not have the evidence required to support what happened. The terms of the settlement were willingly agreed by both parties.' The Observer report also claimed that Winn and her husband owned a house in France and their real names are Sally and Tim Walker. It also suggested that Moth did not suffer from corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which is central to the events in the memoir.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Trusting The Salt Path author was our biggest mistake'
A family who claim The Salt Path author Raynor Winn stole tens of thousands of pounds from their business say trusting her was their "biggest mistake". Ros Hemmings and her daughter Debbie, from Pwllheli in Gwynedd, allege Ms Winn - who worked for their property business in the early 2000s - stole around £64,000. It comes after an investigation by The Observer contained claims Ms Winn gave misleading information about her life story in her book The Salt Path, which has been made into a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. Ms Winn has called The Observer report "highly misleading" and disputed many of its claims. Refunds as The Salt Path author pulls out of tour The Salt Path author defends herself against claims she misled readers The Salt Path author's next book delayed after 'distress' The 2018 book The Salt Path, and its recent film adaptation, tells the story of a couple who decide to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path after their home was repossessed following a bad business deal. But The Observer claimed Ms Winn - whose legal name is Sally Walker - and her husband, Moth Winn, had lost their home after she took out a loan to repay money she had been accused of stealing from her previous employer, Martin Hemmings. In a statement issued earlier in July, Ms Winn stood by the book's description of how they came to lose their house saying the dispute with the Hemmings did not result in her and her husband losing their home. Martin Hemmings, who died in 2012, was an estate agent and property surveyor from north Wales, and husband to Ros Hemmings. Mrs Hemmings, 74, became friends with Mr Winn when they worked at the same National Trust site in the 1990s. "I got on extremely well with him," said Mrs Hemmings. "He seemed a really nice person." Then in 2001, Mr Winn mentioned his wife had lost her job at a hotel as a bookkeeper. "It coincided with my husband's bookkeeper retiring so I suggested her to my husband," said Mrs Hemmings. "She came for an interview, and she was the one. She seemed very efficient, we liked her." But she said after that her husband noticed a change in the business. "Within a year or so we weren't making any money," said Mrs Hemmings. Initially they did not suspect anything. "I did not think there was any reason for this aside from the fact that Martin was rubbish at sending out bills," said Mrs Hemmings. But their daughter Debbie, who was aged around 29 at the time, became emotional as she remembered receiving a distressed call from her father as the financial pressure built over a number of years. "He said: 'I just don't know what's gone wrong, I'm working every hour God gives me and there's no money,'" said Debbie Adams, now aged 46. "About five days after that first call he rings up and goes, she [Winn] has been nicking money. I was like, 'dad come on now, no. Surely there's something gone wrong?' He said 'no, we've had a look and there's money missing'." They claimed a meeting between Mr Hemmings and the bank manager showed £6,000 to £9,000 was missing. They said Mr Hemmings then went straight to the police and a local solicitor. They said shortly afterwards, Ms Winn visited them at their home. "She was crying," said Mrs Hemmings. "She had brought a cheque I think it was for £9,000. She said this is all the money I have, I've had to sell some of my mother's things to do this, can we call it quits?" Mrs Hemmings said her husband took the money on the advice of the police who said: "It may be all you get." But they also advised the couple to start going back through the accounts to check if anything else was missing. She said they went back through years of the business's financial paperwork. "It was a very upsetting thing to do and it took us weeks and weeks," said Mrs Hemmings. "But we found she had taken about £64,000." Mrs Hemmings said a few weeks later they received a letter from a solicitor in London offering to pay the money back and legal fees which came to around £90,000. It included an agreement not to pursue criminal charges which Mr Hemmings signed. Mrs Hemmings said: "He was keen to do it in a way, we had no money and had nearly been basically bankrupt. She also had young children, and to have a mother in prison or facing a criminal charge, he didn't want that to happen." In a statement released in July after the Observer article, which included allegations from Mrs Hemmings, Ms Winn acknowledged making "mistakes" earlier in her career. She said it had been a pressured time, and although she was questioned by police, she was not charged. "Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry," she said. Ms Winn said the case had been settled between her and her ex-employer on a "non-admissions basis", because she "did not have the evidence required to support what happened". She said: "Mr Hemmings was as keen to reach a private resolution as I was." BBC Wales put Ms Winn's statement to Mrs Hemmings. She responded: "I think she's just trying to put the best spin on the question. "The mistake was that we ever employed her, and the biggest mistake my husband made, because obviously I'd recommended her in a way, was that he trusted her." The Salt Path has sold more than two million copies since its publication, and Ms Winn has written two sequels, The Wild Silence and Landlines, which also focus on themes of nature, wild camping, homelessness and walking. Mrs Hemmings said she had not read The Salt Path because she did not feel it would reflect her view on why the couple did the walk. She added: "I'd have stamped on the book I think. Just to gloss over why they ran out of money to me was shocking." Her daughter Debbie said: "I don't wish ill of them. I just wish that they would tell the truth, and the truth needs to be told." In her statement in July, Ms Winn said: "The Salt Path is about what happened to Moth and me, after we lost our home and found ourselves homeless on the headlands of the south west. "It's not about every event or moment in our lives, but rather about a capsule of time when our lives moved from a place of complete despair to a place of hope." Ros and Debbie said they had no paperwork or contract from the time to back up their claims - although others, like their solicitor involved in the case, Michael Strain, have corroborated their claims as part of The Observer's investigation. Mrs Hemmings said she was speaking out now to give "a voice" to her late husband. "I can't forgive her for sort of destroying my husband's confidence in people, because it did," she said. "And I think that's partly why we didn't talk about it. He was so embarrassed that this had happened to his business." North Wales Police said they were unable to confirm or deny any details regarding Ms Winn. When approached for comment, Ms Winn's spokesman referred BBC News to the statement Ms Winn made on 9 July. He added: "She is very grateful for all the kind messages of support she has received from readers." Penguin says it did 'all necessary due diligence' with The Salt Path The Salt Path author's next book delayed after 'distress' Raynor Winn hits back at claims she misled readers
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Sister of The Salt Path author's former boss tells how he was left 'heartbroken' over 'stolen' £64,000 - and that she's boycotting movie
It is the best-selling memoir turned major film adaptation mired in controversy after doubts were raised about the veracity of its storyline. Key elements of The Salt Path - billed as author Raynor Winn's 'unflinchingly honest' account of homelessness - have been called into question after the 2018 book was turned into a movie starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. Winn's claims of losing her 17th century farm cottage when an investment in a childhood friend's business goes awry is false according to an investigation by a Sunday newspaper published last weekend. The Observer instead claims that Winn and her husband Moth lost their property in North Wales when it was repossessed after having stolen £64,000 from former employer, Martin Hemmings who ran an estate agents in the town of Pwllheli. The couple failed to repay a loan taken out with a relative to repay the stolen money - agreed on terms that the police would not be further involved - and so lost their house, the paper claimed. It is a view backed up by Mr Hemming's sister, Jill, who today spoke for the first time of her frustration that Winn 'spun many lines' to make a fortune from her book and the rights to the film of the same name. As The Observer stated, Miss Hemmings said her brother, who died in 2012, knew The Salt Path's protagonists, Raynor and Moth Winn by their less flamboyant legal names, Sally and Tim Walker. Speaking from her home in Dorset, Miss Hemmings told MailOnline: 'The book was triggered by Sally deceiving my brother, taking the money, stealing it away from him. 'And he was mortified. He was heartbroken by what happened. 'I'm glad it's out in the open at last. I hadn't known the whole story so some of it I'm learning about now and it's a sad that Sally needed to do that. 'But she and her husband brought it on themselves. I don't know all the ins and outs but I know that Sally worked for my brother, she was his secretary, and she took money from my brother and he was heartbroken. 'He said he couldn't understand why there never seemed to be any money in the account and then he found out it was her. 'He was such a lovely person he didn't want to prosecute. He just wanted everything to settle down really, which is why the matter never went to court.' Asked if she had read the book or intended to watch the film, Ms Hemmings said: ' I have two copies of the book and I had a ticket to go to the film yesterday but I didn't go - I boycotted it. 'What I'm interested in is whether the publishers of the book and the film-makers looked into the situation? If they'd really looked into the situation I'm sure they would've found the truth really of what had been going on. 'If you talk to the people of Pwllheli, they support Martin absolutely. He was a very good and well respected man and was always honourable. 'All this happened a good few years ago but I must say that I got very upset this week because it brought back my brother's death which was a tremendous sadness. 'This weighed heavily on him before he died. He was very upset that someone who'd he been very generous to, very helpful to, had abused him like that. He couldn't believe it.' The memoir detailed the journey Winn and her husband took along England's South West Coast Path - familiarly known as The Salt Path - after they lost their home in 2008 which coincided with Moth receiving a terminal health diagnosis of Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD), a rare brain progressive brain disease. Neurologists and researchers have expressed scepticism that someone could have survived for so many years with CBD, which has a life expectancy of around six to eight years. And Miss Hemmings said: 'I think it's important that people have a clearer idea of what the truth is - i don't know what the whole truth is - but I'm suspicious that Moth could walk that coastal path. It's crazy stuff. 'I'm intrigued with the debate about his illness and what's she made of that but it did seem to be quite outrageous that if he was that ill she'd set off walking with him like that. It seemed to be beyond the pale, I couldn't understand why she'd do that because it didn't seem like a particularly loving action. 'I feel sorry for my sister-in-law in North Wales because she's got a difficult path now, she's probably pleased that some of the truth is out but lawyers will be probably delving into it. She's on her own but she's a very stoic and special lady. 'My brother lived very simply, had a small holding and the fact that Sally was not banking the money that was there was bloody sh** not to put a too finer point on it ! 'They've made a lot of money selling their book and now the film. I've no idea why she said what she said. I would say Raynor spun a lot lines. 'Still, they have to live with themselves. I wonder if they sleep at night. Winn this week issued a stern rebuke to the claims made in The Observer, chief among them the allegation she stole or embezzled money from Mr Hemming's company. She wrote: '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. 'Mr Hemmings made an allegation against me to the police, accusing me of taking money from the company. I was questioned, I was not charged, nor did I face criminal sanctions. 'I reached a settlement with Martin Hemmings because I did not have the evidence required to support what happened. 'The terms of the settlement were willingly agreed by both parties; Mr Hemmings was as keen to reach a private resolution as I was. A part of that settlement was that I would pay money to Mr Hemmings on a 'non-admissions basis'. 'Among the Observer's many accusations, the most heart breaking is the suggestion that Moth has made up his illness. This utterly vile, unfair, and false suggestion has emotionally devasted Moth, who has fought so hard against the insidious condition of Corticobasal Syndrome. 'The effect of the suggestion that Moth has made up this condition has been absolutely traumatising for him. Suggestions made by people, who do not know him, have never met him, and have never seen his medical records.'
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The Salt Path house that controversial author claimed to have lost through no fault of her own is now an Airbnb where you can stay for £178 a night
The house at the centre of the Salt Path controversy has become an Airbnb where guests can stay for £178-a-night, MailOnline has learned. Raynor Winn, who wrote the best selling book, claims she lost the 17th century farmhouse in Pwllheli, Wales, when she and her husband Moth invested in a friend's company that failed. The couple were taken to court where a judge ruled their business associate - a man named only as Cooper - should get the house in lieu of the money they owed. In the book Winn said: 'We lost. Lost the case. Lost the house.' The Salt Path tells the story of how they became homeless after the house was repossessed which was closely followed by the discovery that Moth had the terminal condition corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Winn and Moth - real names Sally and Timothy Walker - set off on a year-long trek along the South West Coastal Path, sleeping in a tent and facing numerous ordeals along the way. But their story, made into a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, has been thrown into doubt after locals in Pwllheli have a very different version of events. They claim Winn embezzled up to £64,000 from the local estate agency where she worked as a bookkeeper. They also allegedly owed the local car repair garage £800 and the new owner of the farmhouse has claimed she received unpaid bills and letters from debt collection agencies addressed to the couple. The home is now owned by Maxine Farrimond, 57, who bought the 17th century Penymaes farmhouse, five miles north of Pwllheli in 2016. The Airbnb has been profitable for Ms Farrimond who is described as a 'Superhost' on the company's website She has turned it into a profitable Airbnb and is described as a 'Superhost' on the company's website. It is booked out for most of the summer but the six-bedroom property can be rented for £1,246 for a week in September. Until now guests staying at the farmhouse had no idea of its connection to the Salt Path book which has sold over two million copies. But now fans of the book and film can book the house which was going to be Winn and Moth's 'forever home'.
Spectator
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Why we wanted to believe The Salt Path
Like millions of others, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Salt Path, an account of how a penniless and homeless middle-aged couple found their souls by walking the entire length of the rugged 630-mile South West Coastal Path around the Cornish peninsula. I also enjoyed watching the recent film of the book starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, as we all like feel-good stories about plucky people battling against the odds and winning. True, there were a few nagging doubts in my mind: if the supposedly mortally sick husband 'Moth' was really suffering from an incurable and debilitating degenerative disease, why does he appear perfectly well in the many interviews that the couple have given to promote their story; and what exactly was the nature of the vaguely described bad 'investment' that lost them their home? But I set these questions aside and just enjoyed their story. Disillusionment, however, has now come hard and fast. According to an investigation by reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou of the Observer, The Salt Path's author Raynor Winn and her husband are supposedly a pair of thieves, liars and grifters who conned the adoring public. For their part, the couple have said the Observer story is 'highly misleading'. To cut a long story short, Hadjimatheou argues that the Winns' extended hard-luck story omits some vital basic facts: yes, they lost their farm in North Wales, but they only got into financial difficulties after stealing and being forced to repay some £64,000 from Raynor's former employer, a Pwllheli estate agent called Martin Hemmings. And while Moth may well be a sick man, he is also something of a walking medical miracle. Nine doctors and expert specialists consulted by Hadjimatheou say the average lifespan of CBD patients – the rare brain disease allegedly contracted by Moth – is six to eight years from diagnosis to death, or ten if sufferers are 'lucky'. But Moth has supposedly had the illness for 18 years and is still with us – a feat unique in medical history. The chief witness spoken to by Hadjimatheou is Ros Hemmings, Martin Hemmings's widow, who says the Winns' embezzling of her husband's money 'destroyed' him before his death in 2016, as he had trusted them. While the rest of the world was lapping up The Salt Path, Ros says the book makes her 'feel sick'. And although the Winns eventually gave back the money they had stolen, a non-disclosure deal stopped Martin from speaking out. Nor is 'Winn' the couple's real name: Hadjimatheou reveals they are actually called Tim and Sally Walker. Another element left out of the book is that they supposedly owned a property in south-west France in addition to their Welsh farm, which, though derelict, they would visit and stay in a caravan on the site. A stream of unpaid bills relating to this property was sent to the new owner of the farm. At the very least, then, the Winn/Walkers have questions to answer about their story, though so far they have merely issued a bland four-line statement in response to the Observer's claims, reaffirming that The Salt Path tells their true story. Their publisher, Penguin, and the film's producers have not responded at all. Why did The Salt Path and its two sequels strike such a chord with its middle-class readers? I believe the story related in the book speaks to an atavistic English desire to chuck everything aside – possessions, money, responsibility, a fixed abode – and get out on the road again. As Philip Larkin put it in his poem 'Toads': 'Why should I let the toad work / Squat on my life? / Six days a week it soils / With its sickening poison / Just to pay a few bills! / That's out of proportion.' When researching my biography of another poet, Rupert Brooke, I found that he and a group of young friends, while walking along cliffs in the South West in 1909, had made a pact to drop their middle-aged families and careers in some 30 years' time and meet up at Basle station in 1933 to entirely remake their lives. Of course none of them kept the pact: life, and for some of them, including Rupert, death, got in their way first. Haven't we all felt a similar gypsyish need to kick over the traces and set off with a pack on our backs to rediscover the simple life? The Winns' story had a special resonance for me as I too have twice set out to walk long sections of the South West Path (honestly I have – I've got the pictures to prove it) with different walking partners in 2013 and 2018. My aching limbs and shortness of breath testified that even a person in peak physical condition finds the path a tough proposition, let alone someone with a terminal illness. Defenders of the Winn/Walkers' apparent duplicity would argue that, as we are all now living in a post-truth era, if their story isn't exactly 100 per cent accurate it is still 'their truth' and therefore authentic. But I for one, being an old romantic, identified with the Winns' heroic endeavour, so it is for me a real disappointment to discover, with a sense of weary inevitability, that they are probably just another pair of dishonest grifters making money out of our gullibility. If only their story had really been true.
