By David Wu

Copyright news

Phillips snatched his three young children in late 2021 amid a custody battle and fled into the wilderness south of Auckland, sparking a nationwide manhunt.

There had been sightings of them throughout the year, but it was not until early this month when police finally cornered him and fatally shot him in a dramatic morning shootout.

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Now, shocking new details have emerged as police continue to search for his accomplices, with a top cop revealing how difficult the search had been.

“The vast area in which Phillips kept the children is difficult, steep terrain, almost completely obscured from angles by dense bushland,” Detective Superintendent Ross McKay said.

He stressed investigators had spent “thousands of hours” hunting the family and used intelligence to “plan possible outcomes”.

“We knew Phillips had firearms and was motivated to use them,” Det Supt McKay said.

“We also knew, based on previous actions and behavioural science analysis, that Phillips was unlikely to surrender easily and was prepare to put the children in harm’s way.”

Police say the family avoided capture by being constantly on the move.

In a shocking revelation, the family was spotted multiple times while on the move by police but they made the difficult choice to not stop them.

“They were detected in transit on occasion but never in circumstances that allowed police to safely intervene,” Det Sup McKay said.

In one instance, investigators had some intel on their location in April this year and deployed drones, thermal imagery technology and motion-detecting cameras over a two-week period.

Departments that were involved include Special Tactics Group, Armed Offenders Squad, Search and Rescue, as well as the New Zealand Defence Force.

The father-of-three was eventually shot dead by police after they responded to calls of a robbery at a farm supply store in the town of Piopio in the Waikato region.

He was accompanied by his 12-year-old daughter Jayda.

She would later lead police to where her two siblings were in hiding, a makeshift camp deep in the dense bushland covered by a large tarp and flora.

When they approached, Phillips’ son, Maverick, was holding a rifle.

Special Tactics Group officers – heavily armed and called in to assist in high-risk situations – were able to “persuade” the boy to “drop the weapon”.

The site had been described as “very grim, dimly lit area, surrounded by bushland”.

Photos showed bags of livestock feed, camp stove top, gas bottles, and bizarrely, a large array of adult shoeboxes at the hideout.

Authorities say they never told the public about the secret operation as they did not want Phillips to catch a whiff that police were closing in.

The main goal was to find one of the campsites or supply routes.

“I hope the information released today provides some reassurance about the lengths police and its partner agencies went to in order to resolve this complex situation, as well as some clarity on the difficulties faced in achieving that safely,” Det Supt McKay added.

The investigation continues as police hunt for likely accomplices who helped the family.

Police say they have “strong lines of inquiry”.

New Zealand media cannot report on other details of the case as lawyers fight in court to lift an injunction.