Tom Phillips: the manhunt for forest fugitive and his abducted children

The four-year manhunt for a fugitive father and his three children living in the New Zealand wilderness came to a tragic end on Monday when Tom Phillips was shot dead by police.

It was the final chapter of a case that has gripped New Zealand and received worldwide attention. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called it a "sombre day" for the country as he paid tribute to a police officer injured in the shoot-out.

'Long-running mystery'

Phillips disappeared with his three children, now aged nine, 10 and 12, in September 2021, prompting a three-week land and sea search that only ended after they emerged from the woods where they had been camping.

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Due to appear in court in early 2022 for wasting police resources, Phillips instead fled with his children into the vast Waikato region, south of Auckland, just before Christmas 2021, following an argument with their mother. At the time he did not have legal custody.

Believed to be living "off-grid with the father using his survival skills to feed, shelter and clothe his children", the massive manhunt "gripped the nation", said CNN. The "long-running mystery" over the children's whereabouts "prompted multiple searches, offers of rewards, and pleas for information from family members and the police", said The Guardian. After less than a year, "with the trail cold, the authorities said Phillips and the children might have moved elsewhere in New Zealand and changed their names", said The Independent.

The search resumed in 2023 after several sightings of Phillips. In November that year he was named as the prime suspect in an attempted supermarket robbery. This prompted authorities to issue a reward of NZ$80,000 (£35,000), "large by New Zealand standards", along with an offer of immunity from prosecution for information about the family's whereabouts.

In October last year, the family were seen again, caught on video by pig farmers trekking through a forest, while Phillips was last seen on CCTV in August this year when he robbed a grocery store, accompanied by one of his children.

'A sombre day' for New Zealand

His time on the run finally came to an end on Monday, when he was shot dead by police who had responded to a break-in at a remote farm shop. Pursuing the two suspects – now known to be Phillips and one of his children – on their quad bike, a police officer was wounded after being shot in the head with a rifle. Police returned fire, fatally injuring Phillips.

What followed was described by CNN as a "massive and urgent search operation involving helicopters" to try to find the remaining two children. With the help of their sibling, they were eventually located at a remote campsite in the dense bush near the tiny rural town of Marokopa, on the west coast of Waikato.

In a statement to Radio New Zealand, the children's mother said that while she was "deeply relieved" that the "ordeal" had finally ended, "at the same time, we are saddened by how events unfolded today.

"Our hope has always been that the children could be returned in a peaceful and safe way for everyone involved," she said.

"In a country of close-knit communities," said The Guardian, New Zealanders have "struggled to understand" how Phillips could have survived and evaded detection for so long in such harsh terrain. While there is no suggestion that he was helped by family members, there has long been "speculation others in the community may have aided him".