Images from the isolated campsite where Tom Phillips was hiding with his three children before being shot by police are remarkable not just for what they show, but also for what they don’t.
The New Zealand fugitive, along with his daughters Ember, aged 9, Jayda, aged 12, and son Maverick, aged 10, had been using the site on North Island until Phillips’ death on Monday morning.
Police confronted Phillips and Jayda on a quad bike following an armed robbery at a farm supply shop in the rural town of Piopio in western Waikato.
Phillips was killed on Te Anga Road at Waitomo about 3.25am after he shot and critically injured a police officer.
His two younger children were found hours later at the campsite, about 2km from the scene of the fatal shootout.
Police discovered multiple firearms at the location, and the pictures notably lacked evidence of a shelter, sleeping arrangements, spare clothes, or even a campfire.
Photographs released by police showed a motorcycle concealed by green camouflage netting, which was also draped over a nearby quad bike.
Next to the bike was a rucksack and behind that what appeared to be a fuel drum.
The items recovered at Tom Phillips’s campsite included: 1. A fuel container 2. A hidden quad bike 3. A camouflage net 4. Replacement wheels 5. A water container 6. Two Sprite cans 7. A concealed motorcycle 8. A children’s lunchbox with a water bottle 9. A steel mug 10. A crushed Coke can.
Tom Phillips and his children, Ember, Jayda, and Maverick, had been staying in this clearing until Phillips’ demise on North Island that Monday morning.
Near the motorcycle, two wheels stood upright next to a plastic container of liquid. A mug lay on the ground, accompanied by what appeared to be a child’s lunchbox and a drink bottle near a metal tank.
Two cans of Sprite and a crushed Coke can were visible in one shot.
The makeshift camp, which was located by specialist police acting on information from one of the Phillips children, remained a crime scene on Tuesday.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said police would investigate if Phillips had access to forms of transport other than those already located and whether he had any outside help.
‘We are interested in how Phillips was able to access multiple firearms,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
‘There’s a lot of work to do over the next few months that will help us determine whether or not there is anybody else that’s been involved.’
Commissioner Chambers also revealed how close police had come to tracking down the missing family in previous searches.
‘Over the last four years, we have covered this terrain, this region a lot,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
Police confronted Phillips (above) and his daughter Jayda on a quad bike following an armed robbery at a farm supply shop in the rural town of Piopio in western Waikato
Jayda, Maverick and Ember (all pictured) are settling well in the care of authorities after spending almost four years in the wilderness
Commissioner Chambers also revealed how close police had come to tracking down the missing family in previous searches.
‘It’s highly likely that we’ve been very, very close.’
Commissioner Chambers and Minister of Police Mark Mitchell visited the policeman Phillips shot, Officer A, in hospital on Tuesday.
‘I was pleased that I could meet him and his family today and offer my encouragement and support to them,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
‘While the officer has a long road to recovery, we will be there to support him and his whānau [extended family] at every step.
‘He is a dedicated and caring constable and represents the best of what it means to be a rural police officer.
‘I’m proud of him, and the officers who arrived on the scene seconds later and dealt to the threat.’
Police said the Phillips children would be given time to settle, but conceded there would come a point when they would need to be interviewed.
Phillips and Jayda took off on their quad bike, and were stopped by police road spikes about 33km away from the scene of a robbery
The children remained in the care of the Ministry for Children, also known as Oranga Tamariki.
‘I can confirm that the children are settled – they are doing well under the circumstances and engaging with the staff,’ Oranga Tamariki regional commissioner Warwick Morehu said.
‘They are settled, they are comfortable. They are together.
‘I want to assure you all that these tamariki (children) will be provided with whatever help or assistance they may need for however long they may need it.’
Phillips vanished from the rural town of Marokopa on the North Island in December 2021 with his three children following a custody dispute with their mother.
Despite an NZ$80,000 reward and multiple search operations, the family had been living in the wilderness ever since.
On Monday morning, Phillips and Jayda were spotted stealing from a PGG Wrightson farm supply store in Piopio.
A witness called police at about 2.30am, describing them as being in ‘farm clothing’ and wearing headlamps.
Ember, Maverick and Jayda are pictured with their mother Cat before their father took them on the run
Phillips and Jayda took off on their quad bike, but were stopped by police road spikes about 33km away on Te Anga Road at 3.30am.
The father then confronted a lone officer and shot him in the head with a high-powered rifle. When backup arrived, police returned fire and killed Phillips. Jayda was taken into custody.
Phillips’s two other children were not present when he was shot, sparking an urgent bush search for the pair.
Police revealed on Monday that Jayda provided ‘vital information to ensure a safe approach’ to help find her siblings.
Mr Mitchell said Phillips had ‘multiple high-powered firearms’ and was ‘very unstable in his thinking’.
‘I think the whole country has seen play out in the last 24 hours just how dangerous the situation was and how it could have ended an even worse tragedy, and that would have been the loss of one, two or three young lives,’ Mr Mitchell said.
