Originally Posted by
Haalcyon When my daughter locked her iPad I just put it in DFU mode and restored it. No passcode needed.
via the phone
Generally speaking, a restore is required to bypass the lockscreen passcode, especially with iOS versions prior to iOS 7. Even then, the person will have to set it up as a new device. If they try to restore from a backup, they will still need to know the Apple ID & passcode. If the iCloud activation lock has been enabled, a restore is absolutely useless because they will not be able to even use the device without knowing the Apple ID & passcode.