Tom Phillips case: Police face ‘very difficult’ task tracking any accomplices - law expert

It will be “very difficult” for police to find and charge any accomplices of fugitive father Tom Phillips, a law expert says.

Retired law professor Bill Hodge said police would be focusing on charges that carry the highest penalties - those who may have provided Phillips with guns and ammunition.

At least four firearms have been recovered; three were found on Phillips when he died, and another back at the camp with his remaining children.

The quad bike used by Tom Phillips as a getaway vehicle before he engaged in a shootout with police. Three firearms were found with him. Photo / Hayden Woodward

He told Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge those would be the most serious charges, but police face an onerous task in trying to indict Phillips’ helpers.

“Some of it might be tracked back to one particular point of sale, and they can find out who purchased it,” Hodge said.

“But it’s going to be very difficult.

“So the police have a mountain of work ahead of them, but I want to emphasise the main angle of inquiry should be the firearms and the ammunition.”

Hodge also said someone convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the aggravated robberies could be jailed for up to five years.

Tom Phillips evaded capture for nearly four years despite multiple sightings.

“We’re not talking about a traffic ticket. We’re talking about a trial in the High Court. We’re talking about serious matters.

“Now, if I’m the police, it’s one thing to provide the gas bottles, sleeping bags, food, a generator.

“But who gave him the rifle? Who gave him the ammunition? That’s the most serious thing here.

“If I’m the police, I’m really going after that.”

Phillips was shot dead by police on Monday after four years on the run with his children.

In a stand-off, he shot a police officer multiple times. The officer is recovering in hospital.

Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders said Wednesday the investigation had shifted to focus on Phillips’ accomplices.

“Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help,” Saunders said.

Police located Phillips’ remaining children on Monday after his elder daughter, Jayda, guided them to a campsite.

Another site was found 200m away from the first, which appeared to be where Phillips and his children had been sleeping and eating.

Police provided pictures of the campsite where Tom Phillips was living at with his children. Photo / NZ Police

Phillips had been on the run since December 2021, when he disappeared with his three children from their family farm in Marokopa. Jayda, Maverick and Ember were 8, 7 and 5 when they went into hiding. They are now 12, 10 and 9.

The children are now in the care of Oranga Tamariki.

A number of areas in western Waikato remain cordoned off as police process evidence.