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

[Iwishiknewwhatiwasdoing]

Posting for traffic…

Such a nightmare of a situation. So insane how he managed to evade police for 4 years. The youngest may not even remember his previous life?

Yes, it was definitely the Phillips family who filed it.

I thought the same as you initially, but it is very strange that all the officials will not confirm that there wasn’t a baby. Surely it’s an easy “no” if it’s untrue? Then the rumours are dispelled. Instead they are exploding!

@Iwishiknewwhatiwasdoing It doesn't matter what the officials have confirmed or not. You shouldn't be speculating on this and I think it's sickening that you are. The rumours are "exploding" because of people like you. Those children do not deserve this.

I really hope the police officer comes round OK. I saw the photo of the police car with rifle bullet holes in the windscreen. Very different from a shotgun being fired in the air to keep pursuers at bay, as a PP pointed out, that was intent to kill. It seems he was a rural Waikato cop too, not one of the boys in black types, so fair play to him, he got the quad stopped and had put himself in danger to avoid Phillips escaping with the child before backup arrived. He knew Phillips was armed so he knew he was risking his own life, that's brave.

There was lots of speculation about why the cops weren’t just going in there, why AO weren’t being used etc. We can all see now there were good reasons given how it played out.

We obviously aren’t privy to everything the police know, but that isn’t necessarily suspicious in itself. I personally think it’s a grotesque thing to be speculating on and we should all let it die.

Point taken - will stop speculating.

I don't understand why they haven't been reunited with their Mother straight away, unless I am missing something?

They've had four years of indoctrination from their psycho father about what a useless bitch their mum is. That's nearly half the smallest one's life. Her real memories of her mother will be very faint and tainted. It was the grandparents who had custody anyway. The mum should have more sense than to talk to the media about any of this or confirm this or that, very naive, hope she gets a better adviser.

The cop who was shot was indeed very brave. He undoubtedly in my head saved all those children's lives as Phillips was clearly spiralling. The cop is apparently a father of young ones himself; I pray he makes a full recovery and gets every fucking medal in the book.

The cop who shot Phillips without letting Jayda be harmed is also a hero

Someone up thread suggested his parents were guardians when the kids were taken. Ie Niether Mother nor Father had custody.

is that correct? In which case I would expect the children to go back to them, not the mother.
in any case the kids will need to be reviewed by health and social services AND safe next steps agreed with the family.

those poor kids. It’s truly awful. I hope they get the love, space and support they will need.

I don't understand why they haven't been reunited with their Mother straight away, unless I am missing something?

I expect they will want to find out what they remember/believe/have been told about their mother. It may do more harm than good if they rush into a reunion if the younger ones have little or no memory of her and have been taught to hate her.

And they will need medical checks, and possibly vaccinations, if the younger ones have missed out on any childhood vax.

Isn't she just trying to protect her children?
They don't need their whole lives or the lives of their parents discussed by everyone. No one wants that whether there is anything to hide or not

It isn't an accurate statement anyway - the lawyer mentioned in the article was hired by his family, not by her.

"The cop who shot Phillips without letting Jayda be harmed is also a hero"

Yes especially as the first cop was already down and unable to assist. Good shooting under pressure given the danger to the child and police.

Some things I’ve read say that he had custody of the children and the mother was involved with drugs and he fled after she was given visitation rights.

Other reports say she had custody and he’s carpeted with the children as he wanted custody.

Whatever the reason it was a truly awful thing to put the children through and deny them a normal childhood and relationships with other family members and of course other children.

I also read that before he took them he had been home schooling them.

Can you throw any light on any of this op?

Since the only mentions of the mother being a drug abuser seem to be vague, sourceless internet rumours I'm wondering if they were put out there by the Phillips family to try and garner sympathy for what he was doing.

He had custody of the children and was homeschooling them following the breakdown of his relationship with the mother. Something happened (possibly to do with the first disappearance) and then his parents had custody and they had custody at the time he disappeared in December 2021.

NZ Herald started the speculation about a baby. At the press conference, before the other two children had been found, they said “The Herald understands that there may also be a baby missing with the other children, can you give us any information about that?” The police commissioner answer “no I’m sorry, I can’t.” It’s at roughly 36:37: https://www.youtube.com/live/8SxfPaBM2h4?si=LV21wWUONe6-TPit&t=2187

Following this press conference there was an injunction and the news articles that had been written about the possibility or wild rumour of a baby was removed.

There might not be a baby but there is an injunction and the police in NZ have avoided ending the speculation by giving evasive answers when questioned or refusing to comment.

Thank you @FuzzyWolf

I wonder why he had custody but still went and hid with the children?

He had lost custody by that point.

It was fairly widely reported at the time they went missing (the second time) that he’d lost custody and the kids were with his parents as guardians.

it will be interesting to see if the kids go to his parents. His dad has made some quite derogatory comments about police competency previously and they defended Tom for quite a while. Appreciate it’s really tricky and they were probably trying to keep him inside, but equally they probably need to be with people who can give them a balanced perspective on the situation, at least at first.

Yes I found this part of the report quite telling "Police also said they have informed their mother Cat, as well as Phillips' parents, that the children have been found and are safe. However Rogers declined to comment on whether the mother and grandparents will be involved in ongoing care of the children".

Well it isn't a police decision is it. That's solely the province of the social services and the court.

From what I understand there is a belief that the parents either helped him or else they kept quiet when their information could have ensured he was found much sooner. As for the mother, she is believed to have had addiction problems and I would also suspect that in the last four or more years that there could have been some parental alienation taking place towards her.

As a result it could be that right now it’s not felt the children will feel safe and secure with either. Those dealing with children in care may consider the grandparents to be at risk of prosecution (so it’s not appropriate to home the children there) and the mother might need to be a gradual reintroduction (assuming she is considered healthy enough to have the children).

I know it's not a police decision but what leapt out to me was that after four years apart (allegedly) you'd expect the grandparents to be desperate to see the kids and it was interesting that the police didn't mention or acknowledge this. The last case I can remember like this was Shannon Matthews and this is throwing up a few similarities to me.