My three-year mission to fulfil murdered brother's last dream

SISTER SAYS THEIR BOOK GIVES HIS DEATH MEANING

- BY JESSICA BOULTON

The last picture sent by Dom Phillips to his family’s WhatsApp group - of a rainbow seen from his plane - was never meant to be his final goodbye. And yet it has become one of the most precious memories his siblings Sian and Gareth Phillips have of him as he prepared to head into the jungle to research a book on saving the Amazon rainforest.

"You normally wouldn't hear from him until he was back," says Sian. “He must have wanted to connect with us - in that last moment he could.”

When Dom, 57, landed on the edge of the Javari Valley, in Brazil, he posted a video on social media, cheering “Amazônia, sua linda” (Amazonia, you beauty), and set about his work, alongside his friend, guide and “protector” of the forest, Bruno Pereira, 41.

On the morning of June 5, 2022, they spoke to a fisherman, took photos with his family and headed off down river in Bruno's patrol boat.

By lunchtime, they had vanished.

It took 10 days, endless appeals to then president (and climate change-denier) Jair Bolsonaro, a global social media campaign and a large-scale search by boat and foot before the bodies of Dom and Bruno were found.

Bruno had been shot three times, Dom once. “It was horrendous. They had been cruelly murdered,” says Sian, of Lancashire. “It was such a huge, huge waste.”

Dom and Bruno were the latest victims in a growing conflict between those wanting to protect the rainforest and those plundering it for profit.

“They were incredible guys,” adds Sian. “Bruno was so skilled. And Dom was a wonderful brother. We were very close. At least Gareth and I were together [when we heard]. But being so far away was difficult.”

Sian, Gareth and Sian’s partner, Paul Sherwood, had been holed up at a family cottage in Snowdonia where the three siblings discovered their love of the outdoors. They immediately flew to Brazil for the funerals, as Dom and Bruno were given heroes' sendoffs.