They are the photographs that raise more questions than they answer.

When Jeffrey Epstein's ex-girlfriend and alleged co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was snapped for the first time in three years last week, it was claimed a fellow diner had 'chanced' upon her at a Los Angeles burger bar.

But, like everything connected with this extraordinary case, conspiracy theorists have leapt on apparent discrepancies in the images of the 57-year-old eating at In-N-Out Burger in Hollywood.

Why, for example, does Ms Maxwell remove her reading glasses before posing with an open book?

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's former right hand woman, tucked into a burger and fries at a fast-food joint in Los Angeles on Monday

The photographs pose more questions than they answer. Oddly, she removes her glasses to pose for a photograph with an open book

And if she was dining alone, as is claimed, why are there two drinking cups on the table and two mobile phones?

The mystery deepened last night when an advertising agency claimed a poster on a bus shelter behind Ms Maxwell had been photoshopped in.

The socialite is seen in front of a poster for Good Boys, a film that opened in the US on Friday.

But when The Mail on Sunday visited the area on Friday, the bus stop was displaying an advert for a local hospital.

Advertising agency Outfront Media said the hospital ad had been there since July 28 – with Ms Maxwell said to have been photographed on August 12.

Spokeswoman Carly Zipp said: 'We think the poster in the Maxwell picture was photoshopped in.

The socialite is seen in front of a poster for Good Boys, a film that opened in the US on Friday. But when The Mail on Sunday visited the area on Friday, the bus stop was displaying an advert for a local hospital

We checked… and we have no evidence or record of Good Boys ever being there.'

Meanwhile, the 'regular' diner who took the pictures appears to have done so with a sophisticated camera and long lens offering greater depth of focus than any smartphone.

Others question why Ms Maxwell, who appears to have restyled her hair between snaps, spent long enough at the burger bar for the customers behind her to change twice, yet her food remains untouched and she never puts a straw in either drink.

One suggestion is the pictures were staged to throw people off her scent. A legal source said: 'The FBI want to talk to her and a lot of lawyers are trying to find her. Perhaps this whole photo at the burger joint is set up.'