New Zealand police say a search of the remote bush camp where fugitive father Tom Phillips was hiding out with his children has revealed he clearly had “outside help” during his almost four years on the run.

Phillips – who went into hiding with his three children in December 2021– was killed on Monday during a shoot-out with police on a remote country road south of Auckland. A police officer suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the incident, including to the head. He is recovering in hospital after multiple surgeries.

Phillips’ eldest child, Jayda, 12, was with him during the shootout and was taken into police care. She then helped police find her two younger siblings, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9, at a bush camp hidden two kilometres off the road where Phillips was killed.

Since the child

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