A stolen ute is at the centre of police inquiries after missing Marokopa father Tom Phillips was seen driving it on three separate occasions yesterday.
Jayda, 10, Maverick, 8, and Ember Phillips, 7, along with their father, have been missing since December 2021.
Inspector Will Loughrin said at a press conference today police inquiries have stepped up following three reported sightings of him yesterday.
The father of the missing Marokopa kids was spotted three times yesterday. (Source: 1News)
Loughrin told media 36-year-old Phillips was seen driving the brown/bronze 2003 Toyota Hilux flat-deck ute in the Pokuru area near Te Awamutu at 12.30pm yesterday afternoon.
There was also a sighting of Phillips at the Bunnings Te Rapa car park in Hamilton about 4pm by a person known to him.
"They were able to provide us with a fairly detailed account of what occurred."
At 6.45pm yesterday, the same ute was seen again in Kawhia and Phillips was believed to be behind the wheel. Loughrin said there was an altercation between Phillips and another man.
He said the altercation was between Tom and a member of the community who recognised him, which led to the person calling police, which “allowed us to piece a number of things together”.
"Police responded immediately but the vehicle was not located," Loughrin said, adding that Auckland's Police Eagle helicopter was also deployed but was unable to locate the vehicle.
Phillips, who disappeared with his three children 19 months ago, was spotted yesterday driving a Toyota Hilux ute in Waikato. (Source: 1News)
Loughrin said yesterday's sighting was the most credible since he reappeared briefly in February last year.
"This is incredibly encouraging and we are imploring the public to support us in finding the car of interest."
He said the stolen vehicle was "critical" to assisting police with locating Tom and the children.
Loughrin said police believe people are assisting Tom and urged those supporting him to "get in contact with us".
"We want to bring the children home and bring them back to their grandparents, their mother, their siblings who have not seen them for 18 months.
"Their family are desperately missing them."
Phillips 'concealing his identity'
Loughrin said the public should report current sightings of Phillips to police by calling 111 and historical sightings to the police 105 number.
He said a dedicated police team has "followed up on every piece of information that has come to our attention".
"While I am comfortable police have done everything we can to locate the children — we need the public's support to assist us with sightings of this vehicle which will assist investigators with a key piece of information we are after.
"It's a real sense we have a really good bit of information but again we need the public's support to find that vehicle and again, urge those who are supporting Tom Phillips to come forward now.
"Through those three separate incidents we had yesterday, we were able to piece a number of things together which gave us confirmation that we believe the person driving that vehicle, was Tom Phillips."
Loughrin said police are aware Phillips is concealing his identity. "He has changed his appearance but we will release further information as it comes to hand around what Tom's updated appearance may look like."
He said while there was no sighting of the children, "we know to locate Jayda, Maverick and Ember, it is critical to follow this line of inquiry which is the vehicle and to identify where Tom is to try and find the kids".
Loughrin said police are constantly speaking to a large number of people who are associated with Philips and said they will continue to do so.
"We have always said we believe he has had help."
"We are urging anyone who may have any information, no matter how small, to please come forward to police. If it is happening now, call 111 and quote file number 211218/5611."
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