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.
There had been ‘hundreds’ of sightings of Phillips reported to police since then, mostly unverified, but none involving the children.
The latest video is the most credible of the sightings, and the children’s mother Catherine says she is delighted and relieved to see all three of her ‘babies’ alive.
The new 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 their former home 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 this week which unfortunately failed to turn up any sign of the group.
JOY OF A MOTHER
The children’s mother, who wants to be known only as Catherine, has seen the video.
‘I’m so happy that they’re all there,’ she told the New Zealand Herald.
‘I’m so relieved to see all three of my babies. They’re all alive.’
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WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
The father 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.
PHILLIPS IS A WANTED MAN
Phillips failed to show up for a court appearance weeks later in January 2022 for a charge of causing wasteful deployment of police personnel and resources, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He is now also wanted for questioning over an alleged armed robbery of a bank in Te Kuiti near Marokopa in September 2023.
The armed robbery prompted police to warn the public not to approach Phillips.
However, months later they disappeared again, with the last sighting of the father and his three children on December 9, 2021.
