A leading Australian criminal psychologist says he is concerned for the wellbeing of the children of fugitive Tom Phillips and fears they may have suffered irreversible psychological harm.
Phillips and his three children Jayda, Maverick, and Ember, went missing from Marokopa in December 2021.
Despite multiple police operations, pleas, sightings, and rewards offered to find them, there has been no success. They are currently in their fourth winter in hiding.
Dr Tim Watson-Munro, an Australian criminal psychology expert, said that after such a long time away, the kids may need to “be deprogrammed” when they are eventually found.
“It’s been a long time at a critical moment in those children’s development and the longer it goes on – assuming they are not watching TV or reading books – their objective reality would be a warped view of the world,” he told the Daily Mail.
Watson-Munro said part of the equation is how much the children have been “indoctrinated” by their father.
“We don’t know … living like Robinson Crusoe (a castaway) and not being educated or socialised as far as we know.
“That stuff is critical in kids’ development to learn to problem solve and become social beings. Their father is alienating them from others and she (their mother) is a distant memory.
“Again, we don’t know if he’s replacing good stuff to maintain control over them with a differing narrative of their mother, and perhaps inveigling minors to commit crimes.”
He suggested the children may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, a condition where captives sympathise with the person who had kidnapped them.
“It’s been four years not four days, and they’ve had to survive harsh conditions and are all moving to the age of eleven to 12, when you move into formal cognitive thinking and will start to think in more profound ways about their circumstances and wonder about their mother.”
He also said it was time for police to “go in and get them”.
Police here have said it’s not as simple as just sending people into the bush to look for them.
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Lost custody
Phillips lost custody of the children and faces more charges in connection with an alleged bank robbery. The group had been caught on camera in October last year by young pig hunters walking through farmland.
Last week, Phillips’ mother wrote a heartfelt letter to her son, which said “everyday I wake up and hope that today will be the day that you will come home”.
Police also confirmed they were open to negotiations with Phillips, and said it has “always been on the table”.
Their focus throughout the search had been on the safe return of the children.
