Detailed texts about Tom Phillips' last hours from a top police comms manager to the head of a documentary crew have been revealed.
By Sam Sherwood of RNZ
Police director of media and strategic communications Juli Clausen messaged Dame Julie Christie — the chief executive of a documentary production company — while on board a flight to Hamilton to give her a "heads up" that Phillips had been shot.
Phillips died following a shootout with police after they were called to reports of a burglary in September 2025.
It was earlier revealed a film crew from Dunedin-founded NHNZ Productions had been following the hunt for fugitive Phillips and his children for more than a year, gaining exclusive access to the investigation. The documentary would be streamed on Netflix.
On Thursday RNZ obtained a series of documents by police under the Official Information Act.
RNZ earlier revealed that police's director of media and strategic communications notified the chief executive of the documentary production crew of the "critical incident" by text at about 6.15am.
This was at least an hour before family were notified.
The documents released to RNZ included a series of messages between Clausen and Christie.
Clausen's text at 6.14am on September 8 began "I'm on a flight to Hamilton now".
"I wanted to give u a heads up.. T [redacted] were involved in another burglary this morning. T has been shot — we have [redacted] We will do media but every man n dog there."
Christie and the documentary crew appear to have been at the police station by 8am.
Clausen told Christie she had asked if they would be allowed to film the prep for the 11am media conference.
Just before 8am, Christie also asked if they could film Police Commissioner Richard Chambers arriving at the scene.
Christie was going to visit the scene with the officer in charge of the police investigation, dubbed Operation Curly.
That evening, Christie asked Clausen to have a word about a media query about the documentary.
The pair then met at a restaurant.
The day after Clausen text Christie to let her know she was "about to get a call from Claire Trevett who is my acting exec director (boss)".
On September 15, Christie asked if they could join the team looking for another camp.
Clausen replied: "I think we need to leave some air space for now. People v sensitive. I'm hoping to talk to them tomorrow hopefully".
Christie said she hoped it was realised the filming showed "how hard the police team always worked to recover those children. It would be disappointing not to be able to complete that story in the best possible way. I'll keep in touch. So grateful for everything so far."
In another message, Clausen told Christie police had received "a few OIAs".
"Our normal process would be to consult u as part of reviewing for release. Wont be a quick turn around as we'll need legal advice re contracts. But I do need to check one thing with u as soon as you can call. Thanks."
'Not always handled in line with protocols'
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said on Thursday he had "consistently supported the documentary as a way to highlight the work Police was doing in the search for Tom Phillips".
The mother of Phillips’ children has condemned the production of the film. (Source: 1News)
"There were strict conditions in place to protect the children and sensitive police operational information. I believed it was an important story to tell and that this format was a good one to allow that to happen.
"However, the information that has now come to light has raised questions about how the documentary project was handled by police."
He said there was a "constructive relationship" between police and the documentary team.
"However, it has become apparent this documentary was not always handled in line with the usual protocols and processes that apply to documentaries police take part in.
"That included decision-making and oversight around the access the documentary crew were given at various points.
"I would not have allowed access to what was an active crime scene and had not been aware that was happening ahead of time."
He said had he known it was to happen he would have stopped it.
"I am also disappointed the documentary team was told ahead of the family and of other media about the events of the night Tom Phillips died.
"The strict conditions that applied to the documentary project did give Police the ability to protect any sensitive information and that meant the documentary team could be given more access to Police operations than media would usually be given."
Chambers said he would be concerned if there were any instances in which the documentary's interests meant media did not get information or access they would otherwise have got.
"That does not serve the public interest. This was a high-profile investigation and, in my view, it is crucial police share as much as they possibly can with the media during such investigations because of the legitimate public interest.
"I have asked for further information to be sure this was handled appropriately at all stages and to allow us to consider whether police need to reassess the way we engage in such projects."
He said police had a long history of cooperating on documentaries or programmes involving ongoing investigations.
"They offer unique and interesting insight for the public into police work and into the investigation in question.
"I do not want that to change in the future, however I do want to be certain we have robust processes in place to ensure they are handled well and fairly."
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