another of gardner's high priestesses, lois bourne, asserted that she was "as sure as i can be" that gardner had nothing to do with any witches from canewdon and that if they existed in the first place, then they must have belonged to a tradition distinct from gardnerian wicca. privately, the gardnerian initiate and founder of alexandrian wicca, alex sanders, rejected the claims that liddell made. in his 2013 biography of valiente, jonathan tapsell stated that the liddell material was "generally regarded as a hoax", being "a spurious history at best, or a malicious prank at worst." hutton asserted that the only "sustained champion" of liddell's claims has been michael howard, noting that he had defended such ideas in a "limited and measured" manner. pagan studies scholar ethan doyle white noted that in his history of the traditional witchcraft movement, "children of cain", howard "remains cautious and refrains from accepting [liddell's claims] outright". howard has maintained that he keeps an "open mind" about liddell's claims, noting that while no evidence has been brought forward to substantiate them, similarly he does not believe that "any real evidence" has been brought forth to disprove them.