historian ronald hutton also scrutinised liddell's claims, although added that he had corresponded with liddell "at length and in detail", over the course of which he had come to like him, noting that "he has responded to often forceful criticisms with patience, modesty, and good humour". however, hutton highlighted that no independent witnesses have emerged to support the existence of liddell's alleged informants, while no supporting documentation has appeared to back any of his many claims. hutton deemed this particularly unusual, because were liddell's claims to have been accurate, much documentary evidence could be expected to exist. focusing on liddell's claim that crowley had been initiated into one of pickingill's covens during the 1890s, hutton noted that there is no mention of pickingill or a witches' coven in either crowley's published work or personal diaries, and that similarly there was no mention of either in the diaries of bennett, who was crowley's magical tutor during the 1890s.