THREE children missing for more than six weeks were found with their father in a Tasmanian hideout yesterday.

They were reunited with their mother last night.

Police are unlikely to lay charges against Murray Robertson, who had been caring for them during an access visit at his Blue Mountains home, west of Sydney, in mid-March.

The Nine Network located the children after Mr Robertson made contact to tell his side of the story. He led TV cameras to his daughters Bokkie, 10, and Matilda, 9, and son Barney, 7, in a house in outer Launceston.

But despite mother Philippa Yelland’s public appeals to find her children, Nine did not immediately alert Australian Federal Police and only convinced Mr Robertson to hand himself in after securing an exclusive 23-minute interview with him and footage of the children.

“I could never harm my children. In fact, I could never harm anybody,” he told Nine. Nine’s Sydney news director John Chouiefate defended the network’s conduct of the case, saying the federal police had been kept informed of proceedings.

“My main concern was the safety of the children at all times,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure that they were brought home safely to their mother and we worked in conjunction with the federal police every step of the way.”

A spokesman for the Family Court said it believed “the publicity over the last 48 hours has greatly assisted in the location of the children and we appreciate the co-operation of the media. We are very pleased the children have been found safe and well”.

Mr Robertson has not been charged.

The AFP said it would not be laying charges against him and any subsequent procedures were up to the Family Court.

The court’s spokesman said an arrest warrant had not been part of the orders that had been made but that there might be future proceedings.

The children’s mother said there were “not going to be big hassles about this. We will just sort it out and have the children come home safely”.