The story of Raynor Winn and her husband, Moth, sounded too bad to be true. As told in Winn’s bestselling memoir, The Salt Path – two million copies sold and counting – they lost their home in Wales the same week Moth was diagnosed with a terminal neurological condition, corticobasal degeneration (CBD).
It was a remarkable tale – full of struggle, courage and, ultimately, triumph in the face of daunting odds. But did any of it actually happen? Doubt was first cast on their assertions in an exposé last summer in the UK Sunday newspaper, the Observer. Now comes the follow-up documentary, The Salt Path Scandal (Sky Documentaries).
This is a gripping film that doubles as a homage to the dying art of old-school gumshoe journalism, where a story is meticulously pieced together over weeks and months. Our narrator is Chloe Hadjimatheou, who wrote the Observer piece and is now looking further into the Winns and their life before The Salt Path.
In The Salt Path, the couple make peace with the many woes life has supposedly thrown at them by walking the 1,000-kilometre South West Coast Path, which runs along Devon and Cornwall in the extreme south of England. That tale was retold in a movie adaptation starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, who must be aghast at being dragged into what is now an unfolding scandal.
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Hadjimatheou had never read The Salt Path when she received a tip-off that it contained exaggerations and fabrications. “At the time, I had no idea what this book was. I just didn’t understand what a big deal this was.”
One of the big revelations in the Observer story was that Winn – real name Sally Walker – had been accused of stealing £67,000 from her former boss in Wales. She has said that the matter was settled privately on a “non-admissions” basis.
Her employer has since died – but his widow now reveals her horror at how the Winns/Walkers have been celebrated as an example to others. Questions have also been raised about Moth’s health. He has a neurological condition, but experts say that the lifespan of someone with CBD is eight years, whereas Moth is still going strong 18 years in. In a heartbreaking scene, Hadjimatheou talks to a man with CBD who was given fresh hope about his chances from The Salt Path – a hope that may have been constructed on sand.
The Winns/Walkers did not participate in the film and have insisted their innocence, saying the case built against them is highly misleading. “The Salt Path lays bare the physical and spiritual journey Moth and I shared, an experience that transformed us completely and altered the course of our lives,” Raynor Winn has said. “This is the true story of our journey.” Her new book is due to be published next year. It is expected to shoot up the bestseller charts.
