Tom Phillips’ near four years on the run came to a deadly end earlier this month. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Phillips learned the basics of mathematics and literacy in the family farmhouse.<\/p>\n
His personal Marokopa schoolyard doubled as his backyard. <\/p>\n
When he wasn\u2019t being taught core subjects by his mum Julia, he was learning life skills on the family farm, assisting his dad Neville.<\/p>\n
The Phillips farm \u2013 like others in the Waikato and King Country \u2013 has rough craggy hills with steep drops and deep isolated gullies with no cell phone coverage. In winter it\u2019s swallowed up by fog and low cloud.<\/p>\n
The vast outdoors near the settlement of Marokopa was Tom Phillips’ backyard for most of his life. Photo \/ Neil Reid<\/p>\n
It\u2019s land Phillips headed into the first time he vanished with his children \u2013 then aged 8, 6 and 5 \u2013 in September 2021: an abduction many now believe was a \u201cdry run\u201d for the second longer disappearance, which ended with his violent death.<\/p>\n
When Phillips decided he wanted to home school his own children, he would have needed Ministry of Education (MoE) approval<\/a> to have done so within the law.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you homeschool, you are fully responsible for your child\u2019s learning and can set your own curriculum\u201d the Ministry of Education says on its website. <\/p>\n If he was home schooling legally, Phillips would have had to apply to the Ministry for Certificate of Exemptions from school for Jayda, Maverick and Ember – and prove all of the children\u2019s legal guardians agreed they should be home schooled. <\/p>\n The Ministry would have had to have been satisfied with his intended learning plans and what a normal study week would look like.<\/p>\n By home schooling three children, Phillips would have been eligible for an annual payment of $2030 from the Ministry.<\/p>\n The Phillips family<\/a> loves its slice of paradise, hidden away near Waikato\u2019s western coastline.<\/p>\n Their passion for the local flora and fauna is such that in 2021 Julia and Neville Phillips opposed construction of the Taumatatotara Wind Farm that will in January see turbines erected on some local farms – but not theirs.<\/p>\n According to the Waitomo District Council, the Phillips\u2019 opposing submission raised issues regarding the turbines \u201cspoiling the natural environment, traffic effects and lack of consultation\u201d.<\/p>\n Neville Phillips runs the family farm, one of the biggest private land holdings in the Marokopa area. His brother Ben lives next door and Tom often worked with them – fencing was a specialty.<\/p>\n The family was known for a love of music. <\/p>\n Neville has performed in the Waitomo Caves Music Society\u2019s choir, including delivering a solo performance of Rise Up, Shepherd and Follow at a Christmas performance to 600 people inside the Waitomo Caves in 2014.<\/p>\n He and Julia have also sung together in the Otorohanga Baptist church\u2019s choir.<\/p>\n Before Tom worked on the farm, from an early age he learned hunting, survival, bushcraft.<\/p>\n There were family pig hunting trips with Neville as they grew up.<\/p>\n His outdoor skills were nurtured again in Year 10, when – while attending elite private school St Paul\u2019s Collegiate – he was sent on an intensive 12-week outdoors and survival course in the central North Island. <\/p>\n The award-winning Tihoi Venture School is described by St Paul\u2019s as \u201cNew Zealand\u2019s most significant outdoors programme\u201d and its activities include firearms and range shooting, kayaking, abseiling, rock climbing, tramping and mountaineering around the Pureora Forest on the western side of Lake Taup\u014d.<\/p>\n Phillips was multi-talented: he also won a religious studies award from St Paul\u2019s Collegiate.<\/p>\n Te Anga Rd farmer Clive Morgan \u2013 who lives about 300m from where Phillips was fatally shot<\/a> \u2013 told the Herald he had known the Phillips family for most of his life, and described Neville as a \u201cgood man\u201d.<\/p>\n Tom was a \u201cborn hunter and survivalist\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In his early 20s Tom worked on a local farm owned by John Carter. Carter attended his 21st birthday and described him recently as a \u201cgood lad\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was reliable, he worked hard, he was always there – he didn\u2019t arrive to work drunk or anything like that – and he had good skills for a lad that age\u201d he told the Herald. <\/p>\n \u201cSo, I\u2019m quite sad about what\u2019s happened, really.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, Tom stole a quad bike, motor cross bike and other items from Carter while evading police.<\/p>\n Other locals told the Herald Tom was an accomplished deer stalker.<\/p>\n The positive comments from some locals about Phillips contrast starkly with Police Minister Mark Mitchell\u2019s description of him as a \u201cmonster\u201d who used his children as \u201chuman shields\u201d.<\/p>\n Wellington-based Private Investigator Chris Budge, who started investigating the case in mid-2022, told the Herald he believes locals actively helped Phillips to evade police.<\/p>\n Based on interviews with several locals and the children\u2019s mother Catherine Christey,<\/a> he thinks people provided supplies, transportation, fuel for the quad bikes Phillips had stolen, and also potentially accommodation for the fugitive family at times.<\/p>\n When Phillips vanished for the second time in December 2021, he was in the middle of a custody battle with Christey, the mother of Jayda, Maverick and Ember.<\/p>\n He was also the stepfather of Christey\u2019s two older daughters, Storm and Jubilee Dawson.<\/p>\n During the long search for Phillips and the children, Storm painted a picture of a vindictive man who was out to upset his former wife.<\/p>\n In various social media posts she described his actions as \u201cselfish, extremely hurtful, heartbreaking and most importantly, delusional.<\/p>\n \u201cNo person in their right might would do this to their own children,\u201d she wrote on January 20, 2023.<\/p>\n In an earlier post, she claimed: \u201cWhen I was 15, I heard Tom say that if my mother left him he\u2019d take the kids and she\u2019d never see them again.<\/p>\n \u201cI brushed it off because it seemed like an empty threat and I had faith in the system. Looking back, I don\u2019t know why.\u201d<\/p>\n It is understood Phillips and Christey split more than a year before Phillips first vanished with the children for about three weeks in September 2021.<\/p>\n Christey released a letter in June 2024<\/a> that revealed Phillips\u2019 anguish that their relationship had ended.<\/p>\n In the letter, he described Christey as \u201cthe woman I have been in love with for over seven years\u201d.<\/p>\n He asked for forgiveness for an unspecified reason and said he had had \u201csuffered\u201d every day.<\/p>\n He wrote their relationship had brought him \u201cso much joy and I don\u2019t feel complete without you.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a beautiful personality and the happiest years of my life are because of you\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cI hope you can remember the man you fell in love with and know that although I make multiple f*** ups I have a good heart and I mean well.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillips added in the letter he knew he could make Christey happy again and said their \u201cawesome family\u201d was \u201cworth fighting for\u201d.<\/p>\n Christey released the letter on social media the day after making a plea for information leading to the return of Jayda, Maverick and Ember in a video released by New Zealand Police.<\/p>\n She never revealed when the letter had been written.<\/p>\n Family Court rules mean the Herald is unable to report some specifics of the case and custody battle between Phillips and Christey.<\/p>\n Was he being helped?<\/p>\n At the time of his death, Phillips was facing several court charges.<\/p>\n An arrest warrant was issued for him in January 2022 after he had failed to show up at court after being charged with wasting police resources following his September 2021 vanishing.<\/p>\n He was also facing charges of aggravated robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm after allegedly robbing a bank in Te K\u016biti in May 2023, then firing a shot at a supermarket worker during his getaway.<\/p>\n He was also alleged to have committed multiple other break-ins and thefts from rural storms and farms near where he was hiding out.<\/p>\n Local supporters of the fugitive have told the Herald at various times he would have been able to evade detection solely by his own bush skills and instincts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an argument that doesn\u2019t ring true for some other locals – and police, who have long insisted Phillips was being helped. <\/p>\n After the discovery last week of several bush-clad hideaways used by Phillips<\/a>, Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders openly told media the focus would now be on trying to identify his helpers.<\/p>\n That would include linking items found in the bush to people who might have provided them to him<\/a>, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to identify, have they come from burglaries? Have people purchased them? Can we link them back to stores to see, has he stolen them or have people purchased them for him?\u201d Saunders said.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven what\u2019s occurred in terms of the attempted murder of a police officer, we think it is absolutely important that we continue to look for those people that have been supporting Tom Phillips and hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\nThe rear of the PGG Wrightson in Piopio where Tom Phillips broke in. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
The site of Te Anga Rd where Tom Phillips and his children had been hiding for the past two months. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
A sign erected outside the Phillips’ farm homestead near Marokopa. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips’ survivalist skills – including firearms training – included a six-month stint at an outdoors camp while a boarding at prestigious private school St Paul’s Collegiate. New Zealand Herald composite photo<\/p>\n
Clive, pictured with his wife Sandra, said Tom Phillips was a good man when he was younger. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Police Minister Mark Mitchell has described Tom Phillips as a “monster”. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
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. New Zealand Herald composite photo<\/p>\n
Police provided pictures of the campsite where Tom Phillips was living at with his children. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
Among items police found at one of Tom Phillips’ campsites were these bikes. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips’ ex-wife Catherine Christey appeared in a police video appealing for information on her missing children. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Part of a letter written by Tom Phillips to his ex-wife that she later released. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
An aerial photo of the scene where Tom Phillips was shot and killed during a confrontation with police. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips evaded capture for nearly four years despite multiple sightings.<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips had been charged in relation to a bank robbery while on the run. New Zealand Herald composite photo<\/p>\n