A DAD and his three kids have managed to dodge cops for years in a case “never seen before”, a missing person expert has said.
Dubbed “The Bushman”, Tom Phillips, and his kids Jayda, 10, Maverick, nine, and Ember, seven, were reported missing from the village of Marokopa in New Zealand on January 18, 2022.
Police in New Zealand have attempted to locate him multiple times over the last 30 months but the expert bushman managed to escape each time.
Phillips and his children are believed to be hiding in remote bushland.
And new footage released last week showed the fugitive dad and his kids together for the first time since they vanished.
The clip showed a man leading a gang of three children in the middle of a farm – clad in trekking gear along with rucksacks.
Cops confirmed the sighting was credible – but failed to locate the family even after an extensive search operation.
Missing person expert Charlie Hedges told The Sun: “It’s hard to tell what his motivation is for what he’s doing.
“Presumably he’s just wanting not to be in the system and wanting to be giving his own way of life to his children.
“It must make it more difficult because you’ve got to care for them and make sure they’re okay, feed them, find somewhere for them [to sleep], so that complicates the issue.
“If it’s just you on your own, and if you’re anywhere, any good at backwoodsman skills and living in the wild, then that’s got to be a lot simpler if you’re on your own.”
Despite being on a wanted list, Phillips has managed to dodge cops multiple times over the last few years.
Charlie explained: “It sounds like it’s fairly wild terrain and if he’s good at what he does, he’s well versed in living in those areas.
“He can maintain his distance away from other people.
“If it’s a very remote and rural area, then obviously there’ll be less police, smaller police presence rather than a big city.
“So that will make it more of a challenge to find the resources to respond quickly when he does show up.”
But the obscurity of Phillips’ disappearance has still stumped experts, Mr Hedges said.
“You’d normally expect them to be found sooner than this, because it is an unusually long period of time, particularly with having children,” Mr Hedges said.
“I can’t think of another case like it.
“It’s quite an individual and personal thing what he’s doing.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have the skills to do that or the desire to do it and to be able to live successfully in such a remote area to be able to feed himself and his children and provide shelter and what have you.
“It takes a particular type of person to be able to do that.
“It’s not something we see very often.”
The latest sighting of Phillips and his children is understood to have been on Waikato’s west coast, around 1.8 miles south of Marakopa – the family’s former home.
The footage was shot by a group of pig hunters, 1News reports.
John McOviney, the grandfather of one of the witnesses, told the media outlet: “My grandson rang me. He was out there and they did a bit of hunting.
“[My grandson] and his friend saw this guy with three kids walking along the trail, and you know these kids today, the first thing they do is pull out a phone.
“You don’t see many adults with three kids walking around with packs on their backs in the Marokopa area without joining the dots, do you?”
Philips is believed to have crafted a network of refuges around the area, The Times report.
In June, New Zealand cops posted a £38,500 (NZ$80,000) reward for information about the whereabouts of the missing dad and his three children.
Hundreds of armed officers alongside choppers have so far scoured the backcountry around Marokopa.
Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders said: “There’s obviously not the gold nugget … of this is where he is. We haven’t got that yet.”
He added Phillips was armed and was a risk to the community – who should not approach him.
He said: “We have concerns for the welfare of the children who have been living in isolation for the past two and a half years, with no connection to others and without formal education and healthcare.”
Philips and his three kids vanished for the first time in September 2021 after his truck was found abandoned at a beach.
They appeared shortly afterwards and Philips said they had been on a camping trip.
The dad had been due to appear in court charged with wasting police resources – but failed to do so.
In January 2022 the dad and the three children disappeared for the second time – and they haven’t returned.
Philips was spotted in the farming town of Te Kuiti last year when he robbed a bank at gunpoint before fleeing in a stolen motorcycle alongside a child.
A month later, in August, he was seen speeding in a stolen Toyota Hilux.
And in November, he was caught on CCTV with a child trying to break into a store in Piopio.
Earlier this month he was seen at a hotel in Ōtorohanga – but he managed to flee before police arrived.
It doesn’t get any easier… it’s been nearly three years. There’s three children still missing with a criminal at large
Cat
Concerns are growing over the state of the three children who have not seen their mum since 2021.
Cat, who separated from her now ex-husband after eight years of marriage, called him a “criminal” for doing what she described as “child abuse”.
But she said she was “overwhelmed” and “relieved” after watching the new video that showed Philips and his three kids in a remote location.
The mum told the New Zealand Herald: “[Watching them] was overwhelming, it was amazing, it was the best thing.
“It was like Christmas came early and I really thought they would be coming home this time.
“I just broke down… I can’t see their faces but I can see them walking and they’re all there, and they’re capable of carrying their own bags.”
She has appealed to the public to help find them and come forward with any details they might have on Philips.
“It doesn’t get any easier… it’s been nearly three years,” she said.
“There’s three children still missing with a criminal at large.
“They shouldn’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep that night or whether they’re going to be warm.”
Cat said she was “eternally grateful” for the person who shot the evidence of the kids being alive.
