New images of missing dad Tom Phillips' disguise released

POLICE/Stuff

In this image released by police, Tom Phillips is seen entering a Bunnings in Te Rapa wearing a face mask.

Police have released a new image of wanted father of three, Tom Phillips.

Police have been searching for Phillips and his children Jayda, 10, Maverick, 8, and Ember, 7, since family reported them missing from their Marokopa home, on the Waikato’s west coast, on January 18, 2022.

On Thursday, police announced he had been spotted recently and was driving a stolen vehicle.

Inspector Will Loughrin said Phillips had been seen on three separate occasions in Pokuru near Te Awamutu, in Te Rapa and in Kawhia and had been disguising his appearance by wearing a face mask.

On CCTV video stills released on Friday, Phillips can be seen completely covered from head to toe with a low covering beanie, reading glasses and a mask.

There were three confirmed sightings of Phillips in Waikato, ranging over about 125km.

On Wednesday, police received reports of a sighting of Phillips behind the wheel of a brown/bronze 2003 Toyota Hilux flat-deck ute.

Loughrin said at a press conference on Thursday the Hilux had earlier been stolen, but the three missing children were not with him.

Stuff

The missing Marokopa family.

Phillips was first seen in the Pokuru area, near Te Awamutu, around 12.30pm.

The small rural community has a population of just over 200 people, and is home to volcanic cone Mount Kakepuku.

That’s about 44km – a roughly 40-minute drive – from where he was next spotted.

This was in the car park of the Bunnings Warehouse store in Te Rapa, Hamilton, around 4pm.

The hardware store was located next to City Fitness, IRD and numerous car dealerships, the busy large-scale retail and light industrial area was always buzzing.

Phillips was seen by someone who knew him well, but Loughrin declined to say whether that person had confronted him.

He did say the witness had “provided a detailed account of what occurred”.

This was about 82km – a roughly 1 hour and 15-minute drive – from the next sighting, where the ute Phillips was driving was involved in “an altercation” with another motorist.

The person involved in this altercation on Kāwhia Rd (State Highway 31), near small west coast settlement Kāwhia, immediately contacted the police.

The rural, windy highway connects the town with State Highway 39, which took motorists north to Hamilton, or south to Ōtorohanga – where Phillips had a home.

No detail was given by police on what this looked like, but Loughrin said Phillips was “concealing his identity” and had changed his appearance.

Staff scrambled, including the Auckland-based Eagle helicopter, to the area but the ute was not located.

These were the first credible sightings of Phillips since February 2021, giving police fresh optimism the long-running saga of the family’s disappearance would come to an end.

The third sighting of Phillips, near Kāwhia, was about 70km – another 1 hour and 15-minute drive – from Marokopa, which was home to the Phillips’ family farm and the location of his first Houdini act.

Supplied/NZ Police

The brown/bronze 2003 Toyota Hilux flat-deck ute that Tom Phillips was seen in.

To get to the isolated town you travel past the world-famous Waitomo Caves and through native bush, broken only by ancient rock formations and farmland.

That was where the saga of the missing Marokopa family began, almost two years ago.

It was a blustery day on September 11 in 2021 when Phillips’ grey Toyota Hilux was found facing into the waves, the keys under the driver’s side mat.

Search crews were called to action at the remote and desolate Kiritehere Beach because Phillips and his three children were missing, with some fearing they’d been swept out to sea.

The coastal community rejoiced after the missing family re-appeared at the family farm safe and well.

They’d spent 17 days in Marokopa’s dense bush, but weren’t found despite an intensive police-led land, sea and air search.

Supplied/NZ Police

Tom Phillips was driving this stolen ute when he was spotted in the Bunnings Te Rapa car park at 4pm on Wednesday.

Phillips was consequently charged with wasting police time and resources, but then failed to appear in Te Kūiti District Court in January 2022.

Police said he left the family home in December and hadn’t reappeared for Christmas.

Police found his ute in late January, left parked on Mangatoa Rd near the Mangatoa Track, about 20km – or a 30-minute drive – from Marokopa.

But then Phillips’ family told the police he returned to the family home briefly in February to pick up supplies.

“He provided reassurances to his family that he and his children were well, however did not disclose where they were living,” Loughrin said at the time.

Tom Lee/Stuff

Thomas Phillips’ family farm is in Marokopa, where he first went missing.

That was the last confirmed sighting of Phillips.

Until now.

Loughrin had a message for Phillips on Thursday: “Tom, we need you to come in and speak to us and resolve this. Eighteen months is too long and the kids need to see their grandparents, their siblings, their mother, and we need to bring this to a close.”

Police believed there were people in the community helping him – “people who have shared his view” – and the children, and Loughrin urged those people to do the right thing and come forward.

So what should people do if they spotted Phillips?

”Call 111.”

“We are also appealing directly to those in the community who may be helping Tom and the children, to do the right thing and come forward,” Loughrin said.

Police have asked anyone who may have seen the Toyota ute anywhere in the Waikato area over the last few days is asked to come forward referencing the file number 211218/5611.