Police believe Tom Phillips snatched Jayda, Maverick and Ember after losing a bitter custody battle to their mother nearly four years ago and he has been on run ever since
Police hunting for a fugitive dad who vanished into the wilderness with his three young children back in 2021 believe they now have their strongest lead in years.
Tom Phillips has been on the run with children Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and nine-year-old Ember in New Zealand and the authorities have been left stumped with a lack of progress in the investigation to find them. It is understood he has been hiding out in the remote Waikato region, but cops are stumped as there have been few potential sightings of the family.
However, Philips – who police believe snatched the children after losing a bitter custody battle – and one of his kids seem to have been caught on camera for the first time in a year, appearing to break into a convenience store. CCTV footage from Wednesday morning shows two figures carrying out a raid before fleeing the scene together on a quad bike.
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Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders said at a press conference this afternoon that the dad and child “helped themselves to grocery items” during the raid. But he was keen to remind the public of the importance of the investigation. He said: “Their well-being is our main focus.
“At the heart of this are three children who have been away from their home for four years. Does it mean that he’s potentially had a falling out with who’s helping him? Or is he just that brazen and confident that he’s quite happy to come out at night and commit a burglary?”
The case has been in the spotlight in New Zealand where it has divided opinion between those who see him as desperately trying to remain with his kids, and others who believe he is doing them a lot of harm by keeping them away from wider society.
His estranged wife and mother of his children, Cat, is angry that the children are being brought up in the wilderness. The few reported sightings that have been made of the dad and the kids have been in the Waikato region which is where the family farm is in Marokopa.
There is a growing belief that for him to have remained elusive for so long, he must be receiving help. Private investigator Chris Budge, a former military policeman, has visited the area where Phillips is believed to be hiding and he thinks that he must be staying in a house or some kind of outbuilding.
While Lance Burdett, a former police detective inspector and senior crisis negotiator who now runs a security consultancy, told the Mail: “There’s information that he has a new partner who has been helping him – it’s unconfirmed but it makes sense.
“I think he is living in a house and people are giving him information because you can’t do nearly four years and not have help and live solely in the bush. This is not a movie, it’s reality.”
Phillips is wanted by police after being linked to an armed robbery and Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders, who has been leading the investigation, has said that the time has come for negotiation.
“Let’s work out a negotiation, and let’s get everyone out of there safely,” he said. “We’re willing to negotiate with anyone who is actually helping Tom and in communication with him.”