By Robert Wainwright
May 21, 2005
The Age

Queensland police had records of a woman named Vivian Alvarez Solon five months before she was wrongly deported, her brother, Henry Solon, says.

Lawyers for Ms Alvarez Solon are demanding the release of federal and state files that could reveal why she was not identified as an Australian, instead of being deported in July 2001.

Mr Solon said police checked records on his sister on February 15, 2001, the night before she dropped her youngest son at a Brisbane child-care centre and disappeared.

She had turned up at his home asking if she could stay a few days, clearly disturbed and hearing voices.

After she had an altercation with his wife, Yolanda, Mr Solon called police and identified her as Vivian Alvarez Solon.

"I watched the police go back to their car and do a check on her identity," he said. "They came back to me and said, 'We know her, she's been in trouble before'.

"It shows that the police, and maybe other departments, had records of Vivian using the name Alvarez."

Soon after, a taxi was called and Ms Alvarez Solon was driven away with her son to a friend's house. It was the last time Mr Solon saw or spoke to his sister until she was found in the Philippines this month.

Queensland police, who escorted Ms Alvarez Solon out of the country, have refused to discuss her records.

Sydney solicitor George Newhouse said it was "impossible to quantify the extent (of the mistake) until we are given access to her files".