{"id":312482,"date":"2025-11-27T16:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T16:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312482\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T16:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T16:07:12","slug":"new-zealand-launches-inquiry-into-case-of-father-who-hid-his-children-in-a-forest-for-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312482\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand launches inquiry into case of father who hid his children in a forest for years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Zealand government has announced an inquiry into the disappearance of the Phillips children, who were hidden by their fugitive father in dense bush without discovery for several years.<\/p>\n

“The inquiry will look into whether government agencies took all practicable steps to protect the safety and welfare of the Phillips children,” Attorney-General Judith Collins said in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The main campsite where Tom Phillips and his children were hiding in the bush near Waitomo, in the district of Waikato. (AP: New Zealand Police via AP)<\/p>\n

Tom Phillips disappeared with his children in late 2021, in a case that drew national attention for his ability to evade arrest.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

Tom Phillips and his children were spotted in October 2024 for the first time since disappearing three years earlier.\u00a0 (RNZ: Supplied\/John McOviney)<\/p>\n

In September, Phillips was shot dead in a stand-off with police following a robbery at a small rural store.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NZ fugitive Tom Phillips killed<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Phillips is killed during a shootout with police during a burglary in New Zealand’s Waikato region, his sister says.<\/p>\n

A police officer was also shot multiple times in the stand-off and was later discharged from hospital.<\/p>\n

One of the Phillips children was with him during the shooting and the other two children were later found at a campsite in the remote wilderness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police have said they believe people in the area helped Phillips, but no arrests have been made.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Police believe the father and his children had moved frequently. (AP: New Zealand Police via AP)<\/p>\n

The inquiry, which will determine whether agencies could take steps to prevent or resolve similar situations more quickly or effectively, will deliver a final report in July 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The inquiry will be conducted in private.<\/p>\n

Reuters\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand government has announced an inquiry into the disappearance of the Phillips children, who were hidden…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[124789,502,46885,43,19674,1736,44,1158,176953,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-312482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-attorney-general","tag-children","tag-disappearance","tag-headlines","tag-inquiry","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-police","tag-tom-phillips","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}