Tom Phillips - any Kiwis (or others who know the story) want to discuss?

It's extremely sad. I understand that the police had to be cautious to avoid the children being killed.

I feel so sorry for the kids. How on earth they’re going to reintegrate god knows. It’s not just the missed years of school and missed years of normal family life it’s the fact they’ve spent the last few years with someone who quite possibly have filled their heads with all sorts of rubbish which they will probably believe.

The eldest girl, Jayda, was able to give the police some description of where they were. Given her trauma at watching the shootings that morjijg and the fact that she had been dragged about on a criminal job on a quad bike at night time, she did exceptionally well. They were able to roughly calculate from the petrol in the tank the maximum distance they could have gone and fortunately it wasn't far.

The bush is dense around there, but they have known roughly where he was all along. They knew he was likely to do exactly what he did (try to blow off a cop's head at the first interaction with him). It was clear he would not have hesitated to harm the girls if police had tried to close in on him earlier. The whole fucking ordeal he put the through was to spite his ex-wife and cause her distress. Horrible man.

New identities and lives for the little ones, maybe in Australia. The media need to stop showing their faces now.

Dad and oldest child caught robbing a store. Dad was shot and killed by police while trying to escape (after he shot a police officer). Daughter then cooperated with police I think regarding the location of the others.

Oh that's fantastic
I'm so pleased,I've not seen it on the news
What happened,how were they found

I agree, nowhere in that article does it say their mother has engaged a lawyer, and I also read it as being Tom's family.

I’m reading that as Tom’s family have got a lawyer to stop things being published, not the mother. I don’t think they would refer to the mother as “the Phillips family”. She only seems to have been referred to as “Cat” or “Catherine” and appears to have attempted to keep her surname private (although they were married at one point so perhaps it is Phillips).

Why should the mother's life be open to scrutiny? I'd hope Oranga Tamariki will be working closely with her if it is needed.

I am so glad the rumour there was a baby with them turned out to be false.

Well the Mother has got a lawyer now to stop some parts of the truth coming out.
What is there to hide?

www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/572468/timeline-of-the-day-tom-phillips-case-came-to-a-close

Also following.

He definitely had help. There is talk that the reason he has been committing so many burglaries lately is that he had fallen out with his helpers and the help had dried up which makes sense to me.

I also think the police knew it was going to end in a shoot out and were extremely worried about a murder-suicide with all 3 children being killed. So they have been taking a softly softly approach to avoid that. Although they probably did not think it would take this many years to resolve.

The police have made it clear we cannot expect to receive any updates on the children and that's the way it should be. my only concern there is that the media will offer huge sums and so someone on the wider family will talk.

I've been following the story over the years. I'm so glad that they've found the other two children.
I think it's believed that he has had continued help from wider family during the time they have been on the run.

I feel that he must have completely lost his grip on reality to have involved his child in an armed robbery. What a tragedy for all of them, especially the children, their whole lives will be coloured by the events of these years. How difficult it will be for them to adjust to ordinary life, poor souls.

I imagine a lot of questions will never be answered now he’s dead.

Those poor children. They’ll be devastated. What a terrible situation he placed them in.

I’ve also kept an eye on this story when I’ve seen it crop up, was very glad to hear that the children have been located. I hope they get every bit of support that they need.

I think it’s pretty much accepted that support was being provided by others in the community, certainly the tone of the last appeals suggested that. I wonder if something happened over the last few months that resulted in that support being removed and forcing Phillips to start the robberies.

I can’t believe the comments on social media still supporting him, even in the knowledge that he was bringing his child with him to commit burglaries and robberies whilst armed with all the obvious risk that entails. When confronted by police he decided to risk his child’s life rather than admit the game was up. What a guy.

I am not from NZ but have followed from the start and was a family solicitor in Scotland for many years. I’ve actually found today that it’s all I can think about, those poor, poor children.

The desperation of someone to do that, the history of the court process against fathers. The challenge of keeping three children alive in those conditions being the preferred option. The fact one led them to the rest.

those children need absolute kindness and compassion.

only they know the truth, and that may be something they never want or are able to reveal.

the media will paint two narratives, the drug addict mother, the man with no choice. And the mother with the custody order, whose children were taken.

we will now never know. and I do think there are huge questions to be asked of the police historically, and the family court system.

I hope the DC get the support from loved ones and authorities, they are going to need it.
I hope they're protected from the media.

I read elsewhere that it’s a very close community and he very likely did have help.

Yep. Those poor kids, I really hope they will get the help they need, and that people respect their privacy. And yes, i also hope the Police Officer does recover.
I'm a kiwi, and my job involves dealing with cases like this - so my work will no doubt be involved with all this for next few months.

i really hope those kids will be ok.

I've been loosely following this story since the beginning and whilst I'm glad that it's over and Tom Phillips cannot continue to cause harm and destruction to his children I cannot imagine the headspace those poor kids must be in.

I wonder if they will be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. The youngest one has spent pretty much half their life on the run in the wilderness. And whichever child was witness to the police shoot out and their father being shot dead will probably also be experiencing deep trauma. Hopefully the world's media will be respectful of their rights to privacy.

Also hoping that the injured police officer makes a full recovery.

Seems like in the comments a lot of people saying that the mother used drugs and abused them, so he felt he was protecting them but it's no way for children to have lived. I'm glad the children are safe, and I am hoping the police officer will recover too.

Only read the news of on the story this morning , but it makes you think that this Man must of been quite unhinged or that obviously desperate. ( before I get hounded for calling him out as ‘unhinged’)

I say this as who on earth would take their DC on bank raids / shop lifting etc .
It seems from reading that he led his life on the run with these poor children in what must of started like an adventure for them . Instead they will now be traumatised .
Having to be resettled into normal life with whatever issues that is going to cause them for the rest of their lives .
Selfish , irresponsible Man !!

I can't believe he hasn't had help, those poor children.

It's an horrific story. Even the elder two children may barely remember their mother. And I agree he has probably been feeding them all sorts of stories about family and society.

Taking one of his children with him to rob banks and stores, it is just unimaginable what those poor children have gone through.

I'm delighted they survived.
They'll be traumatised.
I'd imagine that they love both parents, his death will be painful for them, regardless of his actions.