Fugitive spotted with kids years after vanishing wanted over robbery

A fugitive father who was spotted with his three kids in the wilderness three years after vanishing is wanted over a bank robbery where a man and a smaller accomplice escaped by bike. 

Tom Phillips, along with daughter Jayda, now 11, son Maverick, 9, and youngest daughter Ember, 8, disappeared from the New Zealand town of Marokopa in December 2021. 

It has been revealed that the father-of-three is wanted for questioning over an alleged armed robbery of a bank in Te Kuiti near Marokopa in September 2023, with police warning the public not the approach Phillips.

CCTV footage from the alleged armed robbery showed a man on a motorcycle, but a smaller accomplice sitting on the back. Both were dressed head-to-toe in black clothing. Police said the second robbery suspect was a woman.

This comes after a video taken earlier this month showed Phillips and his children walking through the wilderness in camouflage gear on New Zealand's North Island. 

'Recent developments in our ongoing inquiries have led police to charge Mr Phillips with aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and unlawfully possessing a firearm,' New Zealand Police Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders confirmed.

He told local outlet 1news: 'In May, police appealed for information after two people entered a bank on Rora Street, Te Kuiti and demanded cash. 

'Both were armed and fled the scene on a black, farm-style motorbike. We are yet to identify the other person involved.'

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A witness told local media that the perpetrators dropped money as they fled the bank. 

They said that a woman picked the money up and called out to the robbers to say they had dropped the money, which caused the smaller of the two to run back and snatch the money out of her hand. 

There have been several 'unverified' sightings of Phillips since, until the 

Footage shot on October 3 showed four figures in camouflage gear with heavy backpacks - an adult a few steps ahead of three children - as they walked in single file across rolling hills outside of Marokopa on the North Island.

The video, filmed by pig hunters, was handed to police, prompting a large search of farmland in the area which failed to turn up any sign of the group. 

The children's mother, named only as Catherine, has seen the video and said she is delighted and relieved to see all three of her 'babies' alive.

'I'm so happy that they're all there,' Catherine told the New Zealand Herald. 'I'm so relieved to see all three of my babies. They're all alive.'

Investigations are ongoing, with Inspector Saunders confirming the sighting was being treated as 'credible'.

'While nothing further of significance was located, investigators will now assess information gathered to determine any next steps,' he said.

'This is the first time all three of the children have been sighted, which is positive information, and we know it will be reassuring for the children's wider family.'

He added on October 8: 'Investigators received information about 7pm on Thursday that Tom had been seen in bush area west of Coutts Road in Marokopa with Jayda, Maverick and Ember. This was a credible sighting, and Police believe it was indeed Tom and his children.

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'Patrols began in the area on Thursday night and a search was launched the following morning.'

Phillips and his three young children first went missing on September 11, 2021.

Police and emergency services alongside hundreds of volunteers and locals spent days searching for the family after Phillips' ute was found below the high tide mark on Kiritehere Beach.

Some 18 days later they returned to the family farm with relatives revealing they had spent the time living in a tent in dense bushland.

However, months later they disappeared again, with the last sighting of the father and his three children on December 9, 2021.

Phillips failed to show up for a court appearance in January 2022 for a charge of causing wasteful deployment of police personnel and resources, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. 

In June this year an $80,000 reward was offered for information that could locate the three children, however, this expired after eight weeks with no result despite more than 40 sightings deemed significant by officers. 

Inspector Saunders said police believe he has had help while on the run. 

'Immunity against prosecution will be considered for anyone who has committed an offence in assisting Tom Phillips, if they provide information or evidence which leads to the location and safe return of the children,' he said in June.

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Catherine previously accused Mr Phillips of endangering and depriving the children.

'Ember is asthmatic as am I and she needs medical care that cannot be provided from the land,' she said.

'Many of you say that the children are fine and they are being well looked after. How do you know? Have you seen them? Or is it just bush talk?

'What Thomas is doing is not OK. It is not OK to divide and conquer, to isolate and control. It is child neglect, it is child abandonment, it is child abuse. My babies deserve better.'

Catherine said she saw Phillips at Bunnings, a DIY and hardware store in New Zealand, in August last year and sent a picture of the car he was driving to police. 

CCTV footage shows a man - thought to be Phillips - wearing a hat, glasses and a mask entering the store with a shopping trolley.