Tom Phillips probe: Police yet to arrest those they believe helped armed runaway dad

In response to questions from the Herald – including whether police had ascertained how Phillips had obtained a cache of firearms – staff at police National HQ said they were constrained in what they could say while the Government-initiated inquiry into the children’s disappearance is ongoing.

Tom Phillips spent nearly four years evading authorities in rural Western Waikato. Photo / Mike Scott

Detective Superintendent Ross McKay told the Herald police are continuing to try and identify those they believed had helped Phillips.

“We can say enquiries into who may have assisted Tom Phillips continue, and several people have been spoken to.

“No arrests have been made to date.”

In late November, Attorney-General Judith Collins announced the public inquiry into whether government agencies took all practicable steps to protect the Phillips children’s safety and welfare.

Police carry out a search in bush near Marokopa where Tom Phillips had set up camp. Composite photo / NZ Herald

The inquiry is private, without public hearings, to protect the three siblings’ welfare.

‘Giving the finger to authorities’: How much help – if any – did Tom Phillips get?

When Phillips was still at large, the question of who could potentially be helping him was not just on police minds – it was at the forefront of an independent search by private investigator Chris Budge.

The Wellington-based former police and army officer built up an extensive profile on the fugitive at that time.

Fugitive father Tom Phillips vanished with his three young children from the settlement of Marokopa, in south Waikato, on December 9, 2021. Photo / Neil Reid

Just days after the deadly end to Phillips’ time on the run, Budge told the Herald police had previously searched a property linked to someone who knew the fugitive dad.

“They took phones, computers and bits and pieces,” he said at the time.

He believed Phillips had other helpers too: people who had known him since he was a child, who were “at the very least transporting him around the area”.

Wellington-based private investigator Chris Budge tried to find Tom Phillips for more than three years and is adamant he had support to evade police.
Composite photo / NZ Herald

In early December 2023, almost two years after Phillips vanished with his children, Budge talked to the Herald about his belief “one or more people” were helping the fugitive.

“People that are looking after Tom, they are giving the finger to the authorities,” he said.

Stories circulated in the community that a person had dropped a “boot load of groceries” to Phillips.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers was among officers who believed Tom Phillips had help. Photo / Mike Scott

“Those are the sorts of rumours and information that are flashing around,” Budge said at the time.

“People are talking, but they are just not executing that into concrete information for the police to do something.”

During the search for Phillips, Marokopa local and former Waitomo mayor Mark Ammon was another who told the Herald he had heard theories the runaway dad had been receiving help.

Former Waitomo mayor and Marokopa resident Mark Ammon heard rumours in the community that people were helping Tom Phillips. Photo / Neil Reid

During that search period, police Inspector Will Loughrin told the Herald the investigation team “always had a view that he has support”.

And, on the eve of the second anniversary of Phillips’ disappearance, acting Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders reiterated to the Herald that police believed he was being helped by others, and called on them to reveal where he was.

“Our message to Tom Phillips, and anyone who is helping him, remains the same – do the right thing and come forward,” Saunders said in December 2023.

A sign in front of the Phillips’ homestead near Marokopa. Photo / Mike Scott

“While we appreciate there are certain loyalties held by people in small communities, this is not the time to keep them.”

After Phillips’ shooting early on September 8, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said attention would turn to identifying those who might have helped Phillips, including whether someone had supplied him with firearms he had at his bush camp.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to try and put the puzzle together in terms of those firearms … There’s a lot of work to do to try and understand who, if anybody, may have been assisting Mr Phillips,” he said at the time.

Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 34 years of newsroom experience. He has spent time in Marokopa during the lengthy police hunt for Tom Phillips and his children.

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