The lack of context led many to speculate that it had been taken on the paedophile’s island where he was known to abuse women, however that was not the case. The photo was taken at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Orlando, Florida in 2008, according to the Daily Mail, who has seen an unredacted copy of the image. According to the outlet, the two women pictured with the scientist were his full-time carers, Monica Guy and Nicola O’Brien.

Their identity was also confirmed by a representative of the Hawking family estate.

Ms Guy, who now works as a PR executive, wrote of her travels alongside the astrophysicist and said: “The USA leads the way in terms of accessible hotels.

“That’s the conclusion I’ve come to after several years spent travelling around with Stephen Hawking, the well-known disabled scientist.”

“We’ve stayed in top and not-so-top hotels in cities all over the world.

“In the US it is considered absolutely normal to be disabled, and the right of a disabled person to access the same hotel facilities as everyone else is uncontested.”

She did, however, concede that the gravitas of the Hawking name did open doors for the author of A Brief History of Time.

It is not known how the photo came to be included within the files which detailed large aspects of the paedophile financier’s life.

Hawking was one of 21 leading scientists who attended a conference organised by Epstein in March 2006 — five months before the New York socialite was first charged with soliciting prostitution.

The event took place at the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel on the island of St Thomas, close to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little Saint James.

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Ms Guy added: “And because, importantly, Stephen Hawking is confident enough to stand up for his rights – if he had a bad experience, he has no qualms about letting the management know.

“After a night(mare) of electricity problems and needless hassle at the Randolph in Oxford, he complained publicly and refused to pay for that night.”

A spokesperson for the Hawking Family told the Daily Mail: “Professor Hawking made some of the greatest contributions to physics in the 20th century while at the same time being the longest-known survivor of motor neurone disease, a debilitating condition which left him reliant on a ventilator, voice synthesiser, wheelchair and round-the-clock medical care.

“Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far-fetched in the extreme.”