Police have received emails, calls and visits from people claiming to have information about a听missing man and his three children听after a reward was offered yesterday.听听
An $80,000 reward听for information on missing听Marokopa man Tom Phillips听and his three children that leads to their location and safe return was announced by police yesterday.听听
Ember, 8, Maverick, 9, and Jayda, 10, have been missing since December 2021, when they were taken by Phillips to an unknown location - though police believe it was in听Western Waikato within Marokopa听or the surrounding areas.听听
Acting Detective Inspector Andy Saunders told RNZ this appeal was aimed at the people they believed had been helping Phillips to hide.听
Police are looking for Tom Phillips after the wanted man and one of his children were captured on CCTV smashing the window of a business in Piopio. Photo / NZ Police听
鈥淭his is targeted at those people with direct information as to the whereabouts of the children.鈥听
Police were also offering the possibility of immunity from prosecution to anyone with information.听
鈥淭he important aspect of this is the safe return of the children, that鈥檚 our main focus,鈥 Saunders said.听
He said police had received emails, calls, and had community members engage with them since yesterday鈥檚 announcement.听
Officers were now sifting through all the information and prioritising it 鈥渢o see what value it is鈥.听
- $80k reward an "economical way to move forward" in Phillips case - PI
- Pollies: Child welfare and the reward in the missing Phillips children case
It was too soon to say whether any of the information was credible, Saunders said.听
He said police believed the family were in a dwelling, rather than living rough, but hadn鈥檛 been able to find them over the past two-and-a-half years despite several sightings and a number of locations of interest being identified.听
艑torohanga鈥檚 Mayor Max Baxter told RNZ听he was hopeful this would be enough for someone helping the family to come forward.听
An $80,000 reward has been put up to find the three children who have been missing for two and a half years. Photo / 九一星空无限听
鈥$80,000 is a lot of money for anybody who鈥檚 living out at Marokopa. In fact, $80,000 is a lot of money for anybody. I鈥檓 hoping the reward is enough to change the attitude of those people that may be withholding information.鈥听
The general consensus in the community was that somebody must be assisting Phillips, Baxter said.听
鈥淢arakopa itself doesn鈥檛 need to be identified for this reason alone, so let鈥檚 just hope people put their hand up and come forward now,鈥 he said.听
-RNZ
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