Raynor Winn, the author of The Salt Path, has denied fresh allegations that she stole money from members of her family, describing the claims as part of a “false narrative” about her life.

The writer responded after her niece alleged that Winn had written a letter more than a decade ago setting out details of taking money from her mother and from her parents-in-law. Winn has strongly denied the allegations and said she did not write the letter.

The Observer said it verified the contents of the alleged letter, which appear in a new Sky documentary, with four members of Winn’s family and four relatives of her husband, Timothy “Moth” Walker. It reported that Winn’s niece said the letter had been given to her by Winn’s sister before her death last year. Winn reportedly declined an invitation to meet and discuss the allegations. A statement issued by representatives for Winn, whose real name is Sally Walker, dismissed the claims.

“Tortoise Media’s Observer and documentary makers continue to spread a false narrative about my life, despite me having addressed them in my earlier statement,” she said.

“It is a great source of sadness that Tortoise Media’s Observer and documentary makers are now seeking to drive a wedge between our family members. The family have always been able to share their concerns privately, and they still can.

“I did not steal from family, as others can confirm. Nor have I confessed to doing so and I did not write the letter suggesting I did.”

The latest claims follow an ongoing controversy in which Winn has been accused of fabricating aspects of her bestselling 2018 memoir. The Salt Path describes Winn’s experience of walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path with Moth, after the couple lost their home in Wales, and Moth was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

An investigation by the Observer presented legal documents and witnesses who alleged that the couple lost their home after Winn took out a private mortgage to repay tens of thousands of pounds she was alleged to have taken from her employer. The couple’s account that long-distance walking reversed Moth’s symptoms has also been questioned by medical experts.

In the latest allegation, Winn’s niece claims that Winn typed a letter confessing that she had taken £25,000 from her husband’s parents after getting into financial difficulty. The alleged incident is said to have happened around the same time that Winn was accused of taking £67,000 from her employer in 2008. In a July statement, Winn said: “Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”

The Observer reported that the letter was addressed to Winn’s sister and states: “Please don’t look any further for the money. I’ve taken it. All of it. I have to ask you not to take things any further with the bank, but tell them it was just a mistake … I have a police record and should this go any further I will go to prison this time.

“In a mid panic when the mortgage was threatening to foreclose, I transferred £25,000 from Tim’s mum and dad’s account to Tim’s.” It also says that the couple were forced to live in a barn conversion on their property after being left with hardly any money.

Winn is said to have made millions of pounds from sales of the memoir, events and the film adaptation of The Salt Path, which starred Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

In the statement responding to the new claims, Winn reiterated that her husband was diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration, now often referred to as corticobasal syndrome, describing this as “a fact”, and said the couple lost their home because of “a financial dispute with a lifelong friend, as described in the book”.

“To everyone who has read and loved my books, thank you,” she said. “Nothing has changed. The Salt Path remains my honest recollection of the time when we lost our house and found hope on the coast path.”

Raynor Winn, the author of The Salt Path, has described enduring some of the “hardest days” of her life as she defended her memoir against allegations that parts of it were fabricated.

The bestselling 2018 book, which was adapted into a film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, tells how she and her husband, Moth, walked the 630-mile trek along the south-west coast path in the UK after losing their home.

It also recounts how Moth was diagnosed with a neurological condition.

But the Observer newspaper, which said the couple’s legal names are Sally and Timothy Walker, reported last weekend that Winn may have misrepresented the events that led to the couple losing their home and that experts had cast doubt over Moth having corticobasal degeneration (CBD).

On Wednesday, Winn posted clinic letters on Instagram addressed to Timothy Walker, which she said showed that “he is treated for CBD/S and has been for many years”.

She wrote: “The last few days have been some of the hardest of my life. Heartbreaking accusations that Moth has made up his illness have been made, leaving us devastated.”

In a statement on her website, she said that the article was “grotesquely unfair, highly misleading and seeks to systematically pick apart my life”.

Winn, 63, continued: “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.

“The journey held within those pages is one of salt and weather, of pain and possibility. And I can’t allow any more doubt to be cast on the validity of those memories, or the joy they have given so many.”

In The Salt Path, the couple lose their house due to a bad business investment. But the Observer reported that the couple lost their home after an accusation that Winn had stolen thousands of pounds from her employer.

It also said that it had spoken to medical experts who were sceptical about Moth having CBD, given his lack of acute symptoms and his apparent ability to reverse them.

Winn’s publishing house, Penguin, said it “undertook all the necessary pre-publication due diligence”, including a contract with an author warranty about factual accuracy, and a legal read.

It added: “Prior to the Observer inquiry, we had not received any concerns about the book’s content.”

PSPA, a charity that supports people with CBD and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), said it had “terminated” its relationship with the couple after the Observer article.

Winn had been scheduled to make numerous appearances this summer, performing with Saltlines, her collaboration with Gigspanner Big Band. However, the band subsequently announced on social media that she will no longer be taking part in the tour.

Penguin, publisher of The Salt Path, is delaying author Raynor Winn’s next book after reporting cast doubt over the truth of the 2018 memoir. The decision was taken to “support the author,” according to a statement.

The Salt Path tells the story of Winn and her husband, Moth, who embark on a 630-mile walk after their house is repossessed and Moth is diagnosed with corticobasal degeneration (CBD), a terminal illness.

Last weekend, the Observer published an investigation alleging that Winn had lied about being made homeless and about the circumstances under which she and her husband lost their home. It also questioned the legitimacy of Moth’s diagnosis.

On Wednesday, Winn published a lengthy response denying many of the allegations, and shared medical letters discussing Moth’s CBD.

In a statement reported by the Bookseller, the publisher said: “Given recent events, in particular intrusive conjecture around Moth’s health condition which has caused considerable distress to Raynor Winn and her family, it is our priority to support the author at this time”.

“With this in mind, Penguin Michael Joseph, together with the author, have made the decision to delay the publication of On Winter Hill from this October. We will announce a new publication date in due course.”

On Winter Hill would be Winn’s fourth book, after Landlines, The Wild Silence and her debut, The Salt Path, which has sold more than 2m copies globally.

On Winter Hill sees Winn undertake the Coast to Coast walk in northern England, this time alone. “Despite 45 years of walking together, setbacks in her husband, Moth’s, health have led him to see his decline as inevitable, which Raynor refuses to accept”, according to the publisher’s description. “Feeling trapped, she is drawn north, like a migratory bird, seeking the peace and hope that walking brings her”.

After last weekend’s allegations, the charity PSPA, which supports people with CBD, ended its relationship with the couple. Winn also withdrew from the planned Saltlines tour, on which she was scheduled to appear alongside the Gigspanner Big Band at a number of UK venues. Refunds have been given to some customers, according to the BBC.

The Observer accused Winn – whose real name is Sally Walker – of taking “around £64,000” from a former employer, among other allegations. In her response, Winn states: “Any mistakes I made during the years in that office, I deeply regret, and I am truly sorry.”

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