(clockwise from top left) Tom Phillips, Jayda Phillips, Ember Phillips and Maverick Callam-Phillips. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
There has been a reported sighting of fugitive father on-the-run Tom Phillips and his children.
Police said four people were seen dressed in camouflage on State Highway 4 about 8.30pm on Sunday, about 100m south of the Tikitiki Road intersection with Mapara North Road, Waikato.
The group was described as one man and three others, two described as children.
"Police are now working to establish whether this is a credible sighting and are working to rule out other possible scenarios," police said in a statement on Tuesday.
"A number of enquiries have been carried out over the past two days as we work to confirm the identity of the group. We are now appealing for anyone who saw this group, or who has information about their identity, to come forward, particularly anyone who has dashcam footage from the area at the time."
Police said anyone with information on the group, including if they were a part of it, to get in touch on 105 "immediately" and cite reference number 211218/5611.
A search has been on for Phillips and his three children Jayda, 11, Maverick, nine, and Ember, eight, since December 2021.
Their location is unknown, but police believed they were hiding out in Western Waikato within Marokopa, or the surrounding areas.
In October, a video captured by teenage hunters north of Awamarino showed a man followed by three children in wet-weather gear carrying camouflaged backpacks.
In the footage - which police described as a "credible sighting" of Phillips and the children - the group could be seen trekking through rough, overgrown terrain before disappearing behind a hill.
Police launched a three-day hunt using helicopters and officers on the ground, but were criticised for their slow response, with some questioning why they did not use drones, search dogs and heat-seeking devices.
The children's mother - who was estranged from Phillips - had also spoken out on the police response, pleading with the public to provide information and telling Mata Reports' Mihingarangi Forbes she had been abused by online trolls.
'He's not that silly'
A farmer who lives in the area, east of Piopio in the King Country, said he did not believe the sighting was Phillips or the children.
"They're f**king dreaming. Nah, he's not that silly. He's not gonna sit on the side of the road and have a bloody rest so everybody that's going past in the weekend can take a photo of him.
"I know Tom and I'd give him a roof over his head if he come strolling along here with his three kids, and I wouldn't be telling no bugger."
The man, who did not want to be named, said he met Phillips when the Marokopa dad worked as a shepherd and shearer at another farm in the area about 15 years ago.
He said that was when Phillips met the children's mother Cat, who he said was also working as a shearer.
The man said police should "forget about" Phillips who he described as not dangerous.
"He's not a bad bugger. He won't be getting dobbed in from me.
"They only thing he hasn't done is turn up to court when he was meant to, because they were going to take his kids off him.
"Now would you go to court if someone was gonna take your kids?"
The man denied Phillips was involved in a bank robbery in Te Kūiti, which police have laid charges over, or that he tried to break into a store in Piopio.
He said when the police drive through Waitomo to Marokopa, the warning goes up from Waitomo locals.
If Phillips was ever caught there would be a massive outcry from his supporters, the man said.
"There's more for him than against. It'll make a bloody good movie one day."
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