At 3.20am the officer, after figuring out the pair\u2019s likely route, had laid spikes near where Waipuna and Te Anga roads meet, just 11km west of the Waitomo glowworm-filled cave systems that have long lured tourists into their gleaming chambers.<\/p>\n
Now, Phillips\u2019 quad bike\u2019s wheels were losing air fast. In 200m the bike would be on its side in a ditch below a scrubby bank; a lone policeman on the fugitive\u2019s heels, as more officers raced through the night to a man described as \u201cabsolutely motivated\u201d to evade capture.<\/p>\n
Just over a week earlier, after CCTV footage allegedly showed Phillips breaking into a Piopio superette \u2013 one of multiple acts of crime allegedly committed in his time on the run \u2013 Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders had told media no one should underestimate Phillips\u2019 ruthlessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cTom will pose a risk to anyone that tries to stop the way he\u2019s living his lifestyle with his children.\u201d<\/p>\n
From above, the rural landscape of the farming and bush country west of Waitomo Caves looks lumpy and green; the splotchy grey and white pattern of towns and cities doesn\u2019t have a home here.<\/p>\n
Neither do many people.<\/p>\n
The closest residents are the Morgan family, whose farm stretches down to where Phillips\u2019 quad bike came to rest about 300m away on Te Anga Rd, and who \u2013 in a typically rural New Zealand twist \u2013 previously employed the mother of Phillips\u2019 three kids to spray gorse.<\/p>\n
\u201cBang, bang, bang, bang\u201d, Maya Morgan would later tell reporters of the moment she was woken by gunshots in the night.<\/p>\n
Across the Morgan farm and down the bank to the road, a desperate situation was unfolding.<\/p>\n
Clive and Sandra Morgan said they employed Tom Phillips’ ex-wife on their property less then 12 motnhs ago. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
\u201cShots fired, shots fired\u201d, shouted a police officer over his radio to the police communications centre, in audio obtained by Stuff on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Phillips hadn\u2019t given himself up peacefully, as police had repeatedly pleaded for him to do since the 38-year-old vanished with Jayda, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, almost four years earlier, when the siblings were aged 8, 7 and 5.<\/p>\n
Instead, the fugitive had ambushed the first police officer to arrive at the scene. The married dad-of-two was critically injured after Phillips opened fire at close range, striking the rural cop in the head and shoulder, Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers said hours later.<\/p>\n
The officer fell to the ground and took cover in the shelter of his patrol car, later shown to have been struck by multiple bullets, including four dotted across its windscreen.<\/p>\n
Police sources later told the Herald the laminated windscreen probably saved his life by changing the trajectory of the shots fired at close range from Phillips\u2019 powerful .308 calibre hunting rifle.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillimetres from death\u201d, said one of the outcome, which caused a severe injury to the officer\u2019s skull after he suffered a glancing blow to his head from one bullet, a second significantly damaging his right shoulder.<\/p>\n
Rogers said Phillips was then shot by a second police officer who arrived as back-up immediately after, with immediate first aid given.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe offender died at the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n
After 1358 days on the run it had come to this: Phillips \u2013 off-the-grid folk hero to some, control-obsessed criminal to others \u2013 lying mortally wounded on the bitumen after nearly killing a cop, forcing another officer to take a life, and leaving his 12-year-old daughter to witness it all.<\/p>\n
Up the hill, Maya Morgan wasn\u2019t the only one now awake.<\/p>\n
It was the bellowing noise of police and rescue helicopters landing on an old farm air strip across the road that disturbed the slumber of her parents, Clive and Sandra Morgan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a quarter to four in the morning\u201d, Clive Morgan would tell the Herald. Police later told media the injured policeman was flown to Waikato Hospital about an hour later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wondered, \u2018What the hell is going on?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas Callam Phillips, the runaway dad who rejected all legal and social expectations, is now known in New Zealand and around the world.<\/p>\n
But he was just another new name in the media when four years ago his ute was found in the surf at Kiritehere Beach \u2013 about 10km south of the tiny coastal settlement of Marokopa, where Phillips grew up and his parents still farm.<\/p>\n
A major search and rescue operation \u2013 including by volunteers \u2013 followed on land, sea and in the air, amid fears Phillips and his three kids had been swept out to sea.<\/p>\n
Raglan lifeguards were at Kiritehere Beach near Marokopa on September 18, 2021, to help with the search for Tom Phillips and his three children.<\/p>\n
Nineteen days later, the quartet showed up at the family farm, where Phillips told a relative they\u2019d been living in a tent in the bush because he\u2019d needed time out to think.<\/p>\n
Police, unmoved by claims of a mindful mini-break, charged him with wasting police resources.<\/p>\n
Phillips was at the time living with Jayda, Maverick and Ember at the family farm, amid an ongoing custody dispute.<\/p>\n
And then, just before Christmas and a month before Phillips was due in court, they were gone.<\/p>\n
Some of the children\u2019s relatives responded by offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to their safe return.<\/p>\n
Police and \u014ctorohanga Mayor Max Baxter also repeatedly called for Phillips to hand the youngsters over.<\/p>\n
And in June last year another reward \u2013 this time from police, and totalling $80,000 \u2013 was offered, without success.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Phillips made sporadic appearances across the western Waikato, mostly related to crime.<\/p>\n
The first came in May 2023, when Phillips allegedly robbed a bank and shot at a supermarket worker in Te K\u016biti before he and an unidentified person escaped on a motorcycle, prompting police to lay several charges and issue a warrant for Phillips\u2019 arrest.<\/p>\n
Three months later, Phillips was seen wearing a facemask, hat and glasses, shopping at Bunnings Warehouse stores in Hamilton, then driving south of Te Awamutu and eventually getting into a fight in K\u0101whia with the owner of a ute he\u2019d pinched.<\/p>\n
In November, Phillips landed in the headlines again when he allegedly stole a quad bike from a rural Waikato property and \u2013 under the cover of darkness \u2013 broke into a Piopio shop with one of his kids.<\/p>\n
Eleven months later, teenage pig hunters filmed an armed Phillips and his kids, clad in camouflage clothing, walking in the remote Marokopa farmland.<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips and his three children were spotted in the Marokopa bush by pig hunters.<\/p>\n
The last sighting came just 12 days before Monday\u2019s final confrontation, when Phillips and a child were captured overnight on CCTV breaking into a Piopio superette.<\/p>\n
Last year, the ongoing separation of her children from friends, family and community also prompted their mother, Catherine (Cat) Christey, to speak publicly \u2013 calling Phillips a \u201ccriminal\u201d using their children as \u201cpawns in his game\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey shouldn\u2019t have to be worrying about where they\u2019re going to sleep that night or whether they\u2019re going to be warm.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like every day [I\u2019m] grieving … the loss of three childhoods, the loss of innocence, the loss of my babies. They deserve better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after Phillips\u2019 death was confirmed, Christey told RNZ that while she was sad at \u201chow events unfolded today\u201d, there was also relief that \u201cfor our tamariki this ordeal has come to an end\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care\u201d.<\/p>\n
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he sympathised as a parent, but the children\u2019s care was a \u201ccomplex situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to put trust in the fact that the courts and Oranga Tamariki now, and the experts, are evaluating and doing the best thing for those children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cat Christey spoke publicly last year about the missing children. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Hours after Phillips was shot dead, Christey was in court on a drink driving charge laid after being stopped by police last month.<\/p>\n
But amid a mother\u2019s relief on Monday, fears initially remained \u2013 yes, Jayda was safe, having escaped physical harm at the scene of the shooting, but where were Maverick and Ember?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are making urgent inquiries to locate Tom Phillips\u2019 other children, who we hold serious concerns for,\u201d said Rogers early on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Jayda held the key, first pinpointing the bush camp 2km from the scene of the shooting where her siblings remained, and then being \u201cvery, very helpful\u201d by giving advice on the best way for police to speak to Maverick and Ember so they didn\u2019t feel threatened, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers would later tell media.<\/p>\n
The girl was kept \u201cnot far away but far enough away that her safety wasn\u2019t compromised\u201d, Chambers said.<\/p>\n
Police were right to be cautious \u2013 sources told the Herald 10-year-old Maverick was holding a rifle when members of the police special tactics group arrived at the hideout, but was persuaded to drop the gun.<\/p>\n
Saunders, the top cop in charge of the operation, would only say that police had negotiated with the children before the pair came out.<\/p>\n
The firearm \u2013 with ammunition \u2013 was recovered from the campsite, joining three other firearms, including a shotgun, found with Phillips after he was fatally shot.<\/p>\n
Saunders later described the wait to hear Maverick and Ember were safe as \u201cnerve-racking\u201d, given he knew there were guns at the campsite as his colleagues searched through dense bush for the missing children.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur biggest concern was we never wanted a child hurt\u201d, Saunders told RNZ.<\/p>\n
Then came a three-word text: \u201cWe\u2019ve got them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The moment was the end of more than two years dedicated to finding the family under the designation Operation Curly, said Saunders. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you this case invaded my dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
As others framed the search as being about finding Phillips, the focus of the investigation team \u2013 who pinned photos of the missing kids inside the operation\u2019s headquarters \u2013 was \u201cactually always finding the children, getting them out safely\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
With Jayda, Maverick and Ember now in the care of Oranga Tamariki, Saunders said on Wednesday, the investigation had shifted to Phillips\u2019 accomplices.<\/p>\n
\u201cAside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s left mixed feelings across the community, with some in the remote corner of Waikato admitting to supporting \u2013 at least in spirit \u2013 Phillips\u2019 decision to go bush with his kids.<\/p>\n
Marokopa has been a focus in the search for Tom Phillips and his children. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
In his home turf of Marokopa, longtime bach owner and new resident Cheryl Frederickson wasn\u2019t among them. <\/p>\n
But she had sympathy \u201cfor everyone, because everyone\u2019s lost out\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, even him, because he\u2019s lost out too. You don\u2019t know what the mind does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another resident said the fugitive\u2019s story was always going to end one way.<\/p>\n
He backed police, the man said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got no complaints. He shot a cop \u2013 end of story.\u201d<\/p>\n
For police, the search to find those who helped Phillips began right where his life ended, and his toppled red quad bike that was piled with animal maize feed, Red Band gumboots and boxes of John Bull brand shoes \u2013 which sell for up to $379 each.<\/p>\n
An orange Mitre 10-branded bucket, a fixture in many of the robberies Phillips was charged with, sat in the quad bike\u2019s footwell, packed to the brim. <\/p>\n
The bike and a covered vehicle, likely the shot-up police car, were removed from the scene on Tuesday night, and a 21km stretch of Te Anga Rd west from the Waipuna Rd junction to where it meets Taharoa Rd was closed all week as cops combed the countryside for clues.<\/p>\n
Likely the greatest physical evidence of Phillips\u2019 time on the run has come from the bush camps police believe he\u2019d set up throughout the bush.<\/p>\n
Photographs showed a quad bike and motorbike relevant to the police investigation parked next to a pile of rubbish.<\/p>\n
The Herald also spotted white metal containers deep in the bush and almost completely disguised from the air by the dense tree canopy, with power cords, wires and what appeared to be a generator inside.<\/p>\n
A possible location of one of the Phillips campsites, near Te Anga Rd, Waitomo. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Details of two of Phillips camps have been released so far, including one where Maverick and Ember were found and a sleeping and eating camp a further 200m away.<\/p>\n
Photos supplied by police showed the harsh conditions the children had to live in, with multiple wheels, a jerry can, mechanical parts, large glass bottles and cans of Sprite scattered within one of the makeshift sites.<\/p>\n
At the second camp, a makeshift kitchen with a propane camping stove and a gas canister sat below a bench, made out of a large black carry case, holding bottles of iced coffee and a Jack Daniel\u2019s whiskey box, a silver mug at its side.<\/p>\n
Police have released new images of another campsite \u2013 about 200m away, across some difficult terrain \u2013 from where the younger children were found on Monday.<\/p>\n
On a hillside, a large bivouac had been built and trenches dug for sleeping, with Saunders describing the tent as \u201cwell covered and dry\u201d.<\/p>\n
But there was little doubt the conditions were tough, especially in the cold and wet of a western Waikato winter.<\/p>\n
\u201c[It\u2019s]very grim, dimly lit and surrounded by dense bush.\u201d<\/p>\n
As police begin the long task of unpicking Phillips\u2019 years-long escapade, others are left to pick up their lives.<\/p>\n
In Waikato Hospital, the shot police officer is continuing his recovery, which police have said will involve multiple surgeries.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t able to open his eyes when Chambers, the police commissioner, and Police Minister Mitchell visited on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
But he was up to cracking jokes, and had a \u201cresilient attitude\u201d, Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe worked really hard to get into the police. His family are proud of him, and we\u2019ll do all that we can to support them and support him, so that he can come back and do the job that he loves as a frontline police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The family of Phillips were \u201cabsolutely gutted\u201d he\u2019d shot a police officer, and hoped he\u2019d make a full recovery, a spokesperson told RNZ yesterday.<\/p>\n
The family had always feared the almost four-year saga would end with Phillips being shot by police, and the spokesperson said they had no knowledge of any members of the Phillips family helping him while he was on the run.<\/p>\n
Their sole focus was helping Jayda, Maverick and Ember. <\/p>\n
After their late afternoon rescue, the two younger children were reunited with Jayda that evening.<\/p>\n
Oranga Tamariki Bay of Plenty regional commissioner Warwick Morehu said this week that all three were doing well under the circumstances, and engaging with the staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are settled, they are comfortable. They are together.\u201d<\/p>\n