Police investigating how a father hid his children from the outside world for almost four years in New Zealand’s dense wilderness have released new images of two makeshift camps where the family appears to have spent most of their time.
Photos of the remote bush hideout used by Tom Phillips, who was shot dead by police last month, show two large “established” camps north and east of Marokopa on the country’s west coast, “heavily concealed” by dense vegetation.
Detectives believe these served as the family’s main base, allowing Ms Phillips to travel between the coast, farmland and the wilderness with her three children, aged between 9 and 12.
The secret base allowed the family to live unnoticed until police finally tracked down Philip and retrieved the children from deep in the woods in the early hours of September 8.
Images released on Friday show the north side of the property, which includes a wooden hut made of logs with a kind of thatched roof on top, with some walls exposed to the elements.
Images of the interior show a damp, muddy floor, a plastic bucket, two half-filled jerry cans, and a thick rope tied to a stump atop a wooden pole.
An aerial view of the eastern retreat reveals it as a mere dot beneath a vast canopy of trees.
Closer images reveal a more authentic structure with a peaked roof made of logs and leaves, with a log table and several bags, ropes and helmets hanging from the rafters and covered with a plastic tarp.
Additional photos show a low shelter barely tall enough to sit upright, covered in leaves to camouflage the family’s location.
Authorities said it would be nearly impossible to stumble upon such a scene and that approaching Mr. Phillips under such circumstances would have been “extremely dangerous.”
“As previously stated, we knew he was in possession of a firearm and had a motive to use it,” Superintendent Ross McKay said.
Investigators removed a large amount of items from the camp for forensic testing as part of an ongoing investigation to identify those who may have helped Phillips during his escape.
“We continue to make good progress and believe we have had the support of a small number of people at various stages over the past four years,” Mr McKay added.
Phillips, a farmer from Marokopa, disappeared into the rugged wilderness with his children in December 2021 during a family separation.
Phillips was originally wanted for failing to appear in court on charges of wasting police resources, but nearly four years later, the charges have become longer and more serious for an alleged bank robbery in May 2023.
Police scrambled search teams, helicopters and planes to investigate sporadic sightings, but they eventually confronted him on a rural road and returned fire when he fired and wounded an officer.
His eldest son was also with him when he was shot dead by police. The other two brothers were found alone at the camp several hours later.
