Sophie Gradon's family pay to unlock star's phones as inquest to continue without them

Love Island star Sophie Gradon died aged 32 last summer, with an inquest into her cause of death previously scheduled to take place on March 16. However, Northumberland South Senior Coroner said in a statement obtained by Express.co.uk that her parents had requested “further time to consider a report which was only recently received”, with the hearing being postponed. Since then, they said Sophie’s parents had requested the inquest go ahead in their absence, with the hearing being rescheduled for April 18. Now, Deborah Gradon has informed her 1,885 Twitter followers she is paying to have Sophie’s two iPhones unlocked by a specialist company.

On February 7, she tweeted: “As the heartbroken mother of #SophieGradon we are still waiting for an inquest date 8 months after her unexplained death.

“Why? Because the Police cannot open her iPhone for data extraction.”

A Twitter user later replied saying her family were in a similar situation and were trying to unlock their late cousin’s phone, asking Deborah to share information if she found out how to do it.

Yesterday, Sophie’s mother replied: “Sorry, I’ve only just seen you’re message. It’s virtually impossible to unlock an iPhone with a 6 digit pin.

“Yes you can take it any phone shop & they can unlock it but it’s restarted to factory settings & you lose all data,” she added.

Deborah later told the Twitter user she had given Sophie’s iPhones to a company in London which claimed to specialise in unlocking iPhones without losing the data on the devices.

“There’s a company in London called Cellubrite, this is where Sophie’s 2 phones are,” she said. “They claim to be the only Co in the world with the software to open iPhones.

“The charge is £2500 per device. They are connected to a software program that trys’s every combination.”(sic)

Express.co.uk has contacted a representative for the Sophie’s estate asking for comment on Deborah’s tweets.

Following news of Sophie’s death last year, her parents issued a statement saying they were heartbroken.

“It has been one week since we lost our precious daughter and we as a family are still coming to terms with our sudden loss.

“Our hearts are broken. We wish to say our goodbyes to Sophie in private so we ask that you respect our family’s privacy during this arduous time.”

Just days after Sophie’s funeral, her boyfriend Aaron Armstrong died by suicide at the age of 25.

Earlier this month, the an inquest into his death heard the cause of death was hanging.

At the inquest, a statement was read saying Aaron and his brother had been the ones to find Sophie dead at her home in Ponteland, Northumberland, in June.

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123 or visit a local Samaritans branch.

source: express.co.uk