The woman whose 111 call brought the Tom Phillips saga to an end has talked of her “scary” experience, and how she’s struggling to deal with the loss of life that resulted from her fateful call. Tony Wall reports.

It was the sound of a motorbike that woke Jane* early in the morning on Monday. She looked out her window and saw a quad bike parked in the alley behind PGG Wrightsons in Piopio, and two people making their way into the yard.

She found out later that they’d used an angle grinder to break the lock on the gate to gain entry.

Jane and her mother called 111, and over the next 25 minutes or so, kept up a running commentary with the emergency operator, setting in chain the events that led to the end of the Tom Phillips saga after a drama-filled four years.

Jane told the operator she thought it was Tom Phillips, because the description matched CCTV footage from a couple of weeks earlier when the local superette was burgled. The pair had head torches.

Tom Phillips and one of his children allegedly burgled the Piopio superette on August 27.John Harford / Stuff

The operator kept asking if there were any guns in sight. Jane wasn’t sure, but thought she could see a long-barrelled rifle standing in an upright position on one of the quad bike’s foot rests.

Jane said she could hear muffled voices – a male and a young female.

“He was just banging and banging on a shed – I couldn’t see what he used, but he lifted the shed door up.”

Jane said it felt like the pair were there for “ages”. “I was worried they were gonna see or hear us or something. I was really scared, so scared.

“They were telling me to stay in the house and keep quiet and keep my family safe.”

Tony Wall speaks to the woman who reported Tom Phillips’ final burglary, triggering a series of events that led to the end of a years long saga.

Jane said a police officer parked on top of a hill above the town, correctly guessing that would be the burglars’ getaway route.

She’s glad the officer didn’t confront them at the PGG Wrightson yard.

“He [Phillips] would have opened fire. I’ve got a young daughter and I’d rather not have bullets flying around the house.”

Jane said the pair eventually left and drove up the hill towards where the policeman was parked.

She has mixed emotions about her role in the incident.

“As soon as I found out some people got shot, I didn’t feel very good. But the detective reassured me, he said it’s not your fault, you didn’t shoot somebody.”

Jane said she was struggling to deal with it, but Wrightsons had offered counselling for her and her mother.

Police at the scene of Monday’s burglary.Ricky Wilson / STUFF

She said she would have made the 111 call regardless of who was breaking in.

“I didn’t want that outcome, but no matter who it was, Tom Phillips or not, I was going to make that phone call.”

Phillips was eventually shot dead by police about 20km away on Te Anga Rd, after the quad bike he was on was spiked by an officer.

An officer was critically injured in the confrontation.

The remote bush campsite where Tom Phillips and his children lived.NZ POLICE

Phillips’ older daughter was taken into custody at the scene, while his other children were later found at a remote bush campsite about 2km away.