First photos show reality of how man lived in wilderness with his three kids before being shot dead by police

After the near four-year search for a New Zealand man who took his three children to live in the wilderness ended yesterday, photos have exposed the reality of how they were living.

Tom Phillips first sparked a search in 2021 after he disappeared from the the rural town of Marokopa with his three young children Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, only to return home 19 days later.

He was then charged with wasting police resources, but ahead of his court date in December, Phillips packed up his children and headed out into the wilderness after a reported dispute with his ex-wife, Cat.

By January 2022, a nationwide search had begun for Phillips and his kids but the dad was believed to have impressive camping and survival skills, which made sightings few and far between over the next few years.

Although there were a couple of times where he was caught on camera, police weren't able to locate him until he was caught on CCTV footage last month, which sparked new hope into the search.

Police were called in the early hours of the morning yesterday (Monday 8 September) as Phillips attempted to burgle a commercial building in the country's Waikato district, and it was later confirmed that he had been fatally shot after a stand-off with police which also saw one officer suffer a serious injury.

One of his children was present at the scene, and was able to lead police to the other two youngsters who were situated in a campsite close by, bringing an end to the kidnapping which has gripped New Zealand for a number of years.

While it was a fatal ending for Phillips, photos have now revealed exactly how the dad-of-three was able to evade police attention for so long, as he seemingly had a number of campsites spread throughout the dense bush wilderness.

Take a look below.

The campsite where two of Phillips' other children were discovered (NZ Police)

It seems clear that Phillips was travelling light and also had quad bikes at his disposal to help cover large distances or escape police if they came close to discovering him, which according to commissioner of police Richard Chambers, happened on a number of occasions.

He said: “Over the past four years, we have covered this terrain, this region a lot. It’s highly likely that we’ve been very, very close.

“We believe they have been moving around. The terrain in this area is challenging. They’ve been on the move and they were deep in the bush, about two kilometres away from where the shooting occurred yesterday morning.

It's easy to understand how they were able to hide for so long in the wilderness (NZ Police)

A local business owner also shared more about how he thinks Phillips was able to hide with his kids for so long, with the camouflaged quad bike in the photos also emphasising that the dad was experienced in survival.

He said: “It’s incredibly dense, dense bush. It’s all limestone country, and so there are very few open streams. It’s all kind of really broken terrain, so very, very easy to hide.

“We’ve got no idea where the place is. We’ve been looking for four years. We’re all wondering where on earth this place might be.

“[Based on police information], we imagine the campsite is 2km from the scene towards Marokopa. That would mean it could possibly be on the road reserve side of our property. But it’s such broken country, no one would know.”