THE identity of the bikini-clad women snapped sipping cocktails with the late professor Steven Hawking have been revealed.

The shock images, released in the Epstein files, showed the British theoretical physicist laying on a sun lounger holding a red drink on what appears to be a tropical island.

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Professor Stephen Hawking was seen grinning from ear to ear as he sat between two bikini-clad womenCredit: Department of Justice
 

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While on the trip, the professor was seen having a submarine tour of the island’s seabedCredit: Department of Justice
In a bombshell revelation, his family have claimed the women were his long-time British carers.

As with many images released in the tranche of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, there is no context of when or where the image was taken.

But a representative of Hawking’s estate said the two women were “long-term carers from the UK”.

A spokesperson for the Hawking family said: “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.”

The photograph was allegedly taken at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the Caribbean island of St Thomas in 2006, they added.

Professor Hawking had just given a speech on Quantum Cosmology.

Epstein also attended the event. But it is unclear why the picture was released in the files.

Professor Hawking lived for more than 50 years with motor neurone disease before his death in 2018, aged 76.

He required round-the-clock care from a team of nurses for most of his life.

Hawking was among 21 scientists who attended the event in the 2006.

The trip was funded by Epstein.

Prior to the talk, Hawking was seen in two images on Epstein’s notorious island, dubbed “paedo island”.

One saw him at a barbecue with a number of other people with the second of Hawking being given a tour of the island’s seabed from the inside of a submarine.

Epstein had reportedly modified the underwater vessel so Hawking, who used a wheelchair because of his motor neurone disease, could go underwater.

Hawking and Epstein’s relationship before and after the documented trip to the island is unclear with the pair not being pictured together at any point.

But Hawking was referenced over 250 times in the latest tranche of Epstein files released by the DOJ.

Being mentioned in the files does not imply any wrongdoing.

In January, a bombshell allegation against Hawking was revealed within the documents.

In an email, Epstein suggested Virginia Giuffre, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s teen accuser, had made claims about the British scientist and former US President Bill Clinton.

The email read: “You can issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaints, family that come forward and help prove her allegations are false.

“The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.”

A second claim against Hawking was also found which alleged he and Epstein visited an “all male” club together in 2011.

FBI officials received an unsubstantiated tip-off in 2019 claiming the pair were with “some Russian liaisons”, according to the files.

Separate twisted emails uncovered in the files shows Epstein and his pal Andrew Farkas making a sick joke over allegations Hawking had sex with children.

The typo-ridden message from Epstein reads: “I kid you not , the local papers are suggesting that steven hawking had sex with underage girls on island. !! [sic]”

In response, Farkas, a US real estate mogul, says: “If it were true you’d received the Nobel Prize for medical science.”

Farkas is the billionaire founder of Island Capital, a New York-based merchant bank.

He has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

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Hawking pictured at a barbecue in 2006 in the Epstein filesCredit: Department of Justice
 

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Hawking was referenced over 250 times in the latest tranche of Epstein filesCredit: PA:Press Association