BOTTLES AND A BROKEN TOY” — Inside the 3x3m shack where Tom Phillips lived with his children for 1,342 days 😱
Each object tells a dark story… but one in particular has left detectives stunned. Insiders say the broken toy in the Tom Phillips case may have contained secret notes.
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The first photos of the ‘grim’ and ‘dimly lit’ main campsite used by fugitive Tom Phillips and his three children have been released.
Phillips was shot dead by police after he fired at an officer during a shootout, following a break-in at a store in Piopio on New Zealand‘s North Island in the early hours of Monday morning.
He had spent almost four years on the run with his three children in remote bushland.
Jayda, 12, was with her father when he was killed and provided authorities with the information needed to find the other children – Ember, nine, and Maverick, 10 – later that afternoon.
Authorities found the main campsite used by the family just 200 metres from where Ember and Maverick were located.
Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders revealed the site was well hidden in steep and uneven terrain that was difficult to access.
‘It’s a very grim, dimly lit area, surrounded by dense bush,’ he said.
Photos released by police of the makeshift camp on Wednesday showed various items, including a tent, a gas bottle, and numerous drink containers.
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New Zealand Police believe they have discovered the main campsite that had been used by Tom Phillips and his three children
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Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders revealed the site was well hidden and difficult to access
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Detective Senior Sergeant Saunders described the campsite as ‘grim’ and ‘dimly lit’
After holding strong suspicions, police said it was now apparent that Phillips had been receiving assistance while on the run.
‘We are currently looking at a number of items at the site,’ Det Saunders said.
‘Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help.’
Police revealed on Monday that Jayda provided ‘vital information to ensure a safe approach’ to help find the other kids but did not attend the rescue herself.
‘We would not put her alongside us as we move forward to the campsite because that presents a risk to her, and we wouldn’t be prepared to put her in any risk at all,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
She revealed her father had guns at a rural campsite where her younger siblings were later found.
‘We knew that there were firearms,’ he said.
He added officers were ‘certainly confident’ they would find more campsites.
‘What we located the other day is a site that can easily be shifted,’ Commissioner Chambers said.
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Police are adamant that Tom Phillips and his children received outside help while on the run
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Jayda, Maverick and Ember (all pictured) are settling well in the care of authorities after spending almost four years in the wilderness
‘It’s fairly basic sort of living conditions, and therefore we are likely to find other things in other places, and that might suggest there’s something a bit more substantial in other places.’
Officers will now turn their focus to identifying those involved in helping Phillips, as the police operation enters a new phase.
Police will continue gathering evidence from the campsite in the coming days.
‘It has been a challenging operation, but I am relieved and delighted that we have been able to return the children to safety,’ Det Saunders said.
‘While no one wanted it to end in these circumstances, it is highly satisfying as an investigator that the children have been safely returned.
‘We wish to thank the public for the ongoing support of police, and in particular for the kindness and care people have shown in respecting the children’s privacy.’
The police officer wounded when he was shot by Phillips on Monday remains in Waikato Hospital after spending ‘a good chunk’ of the day undergoing surgery.
The children remain in the care of authorities and are yet to be reunited with their mother, Cat, who hasn’t seen them in almost four years.
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The quad bike and police vehicles involved in Monday’s shootout (pictured) have since been removed from the scene
We don’t know what they’ve fully been exposed to, but we know that they’ve been put in a fairly bad position by their father,” Police Minister Mark Mitchell said.
“We know that one of them has witnessed him trying to kill a police officer and then having been killed himself… I think everyone at the moment is just focused on trying to settle the children and figure out what is the best thing for them in terms of what they’ve been exposed to.”
Phillips vanished from the rural town of Marokopa in December 2021 with his children following a custody dispute with their mother.
The case divided New Zealand, and Phillips found supporters online and among residents of the settlement of Marokopa, population 40, where he had lived. Some locals told visiting reporters that they endorsed his actions.
December 2021 wasn’t the first time Phillips and his children had vanished. Three months earlier, he sparked a massive search operation when his truck was found on a beach near his home, with no trace of the family.
Officials feared they had been swept out to sea before Phillips and the children emerged from the forest after 17 days, saying they had been camping. Phillips was charged with wasting police resources but disappeared again with the children before he was due to appear in court.
Phillips didn’t have legal custody of his children at the time he vanished.
He was later wanted for an armed bank robbery in 2023, during which he was accompanied by one of his children and apparently shot at a member of the public as he fled.
He was spotted on CCTV footage in the area committing other break-ins to steal supplies, most recently in August.
Beyond those thefts, it wasn’t clear how the family had survived in rugged countryside at freezing winter temperatures for years.
Full timeline:
September 2021 – the first disappearance
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Tom Phillips first disappeared with his children Jayda, then 8, Maverick, 6, and Ember, 5, in September 2021. Pictured is a police appeal from the time
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Authorities feared the worst when Phillips’ truck (pictured) was found abandoned on a nearby beach. The family returned home 17 days later before they vanished again three months later
On September 11, 2021, 34-year-old Tom Phillips vanished from his farm in the tiny coastal town of Marokopa, population just 69, along with his three young children.
Hours later, his truck was found abandoned on a nearby beach. Police feared the worst and investigators probed whether the family had been swept out to sea.
For 17 days, helicopters, ground crews, and even the Navy scoured the coastline.
Then Phillips and the children returned home unharmed.
He told police they had been camping in the bush to ‘clear his head.’
Phillips was later charged with causing the wasteful deployment of police resources over the incident.
Police have since suggested the initial disappearance may have been a ‘warm-up’ to the second, more prolonged disappearance later in 2021 – to see how long he could last out there.
December 2021 – the second disappearance
On December 20, 2021, Tom Phillips disappeared again with his three children, but unlike the first time, they did not return.
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‘Missing’ posters were seen in some shop windows in the region (pictured)
He was scheduled to appear in court on the charge of wasting police resources from the September incident but failed to show. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
By this time, Phillips no longer had legal custody of the children, and police believe the second disappearance was connected to an ongoing custody dispute with their mother, Cat.
2022-2024 – on the run
From 2022 to 2025, Tom Phillips evaded what became one of New Zealand’s most high-profile manhunts.
For years, he and his three children lived off the grid in the remote Waikato bush.
In May 2023, Phillips allegedly robbed a Te Kūiti bank with a shotgun.
Four months later, in August, he was captured on CCTV at a Hamilton Bunnings store, disguised and driving a stolen ute.
CCTV captured Phillips with his head and face completely covered by a beanie, reading glasses and a mask.
He paid cash for head torches, batteries, seedlings, buckets and gumboots. The children were not with him.
They later handed police photos showing Phillips armed with a rifle, while the children carried heavy packs, apparently living rough.
These images were the first clear evidence in years that all three children were still alive and with their father.
Despite a reward of $80,000, Phillips was never caught.
Investigators always believed he and the children had remained close to Marokopa, the tiny settlement where he grew up.
Given the length of time they survived, through harsh winters and rugged terrain, police now believe he must have received outside assistance.
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2025
Reports of sightings increased. One motorist claimed to have seen a man in camouflage walking with three children along State Highway 4 in February. Police later said the lead was not Phillips or the children.
In August, CCTV captured Phillips and one of his children breaking into a rural store in Piopio using an angle grinder.
They fled the scene on a quad bike, confirming once again that the children were still with him.
A few hours before dawn on September 8, Phillips and his daughter Jayda carried out another burglary at a farm supply store in Piopio.
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Police recently released CCTV of Phillips and one of his children using an angle grinder to steal items from a general store in Piopio last month
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The rural road where Tom Phillips’ life ended remained a crime scene on Tuesday
Police intercepted them using road spikes. When confronted, Phillips opened fire at close range, shooting a police officer in the head.
Back-up officers returned fire, killing him at the roadside – all in front of Jayda.
Hours later, Jayda provided information that led police to a hidden bush campsite 2km away, where Maverick and Ember were found alive.
Police photographs of the site showed soft drink cans, tyres, a metal container and camouflaged belongings scattered through the undergrowth. Officers also recovered firearms.
What is next for the Phillips children?
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Jayda, Maverick and Ember (all pictured) are settling well in the care of authorities after spending almost four years in the wilderness
Now the children are in the care of police and the New Zealand government’s welfare agency, with police saying they are settled, comfortable and together.
Government spokesperson Warwick Morehu said a plan had been worked on for four years to reintegrate the children.
