The family of a fugitive dad who has been on the run with his three young children for almost four years has publicly broken their silence for the first time to urge him to come home.
Tom Phillips vanished from the rural town of Marokopa on New Zealand's North Island in December 2021 with Jayda, now 12, Maverick, ten, and Ember, nine following a custody dispute with their mother.
They are believed to have lived in the wilderness ever since, despite numerous police search operations and a NZ$80,000 reward.
There have been several possible sightings in the last year - most recently in February, when four people dressed in camouflage clothing were spotted sitting near State Highway 4, south of Te Kūiti.
It came after a 'credible' sighting in bushland west of Marokopa last October. Phillips and the children were believed to have been spotted walking through farmland in single file by a pair of pig hunters, who filmed the encounter.
