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Individuals of an Italian clan of burglars who took more than £1.2 million valued of items, among them from former NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their sister Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of England to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for between six and 10 years in 2025.

At a proceeds of crime proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The court was told the group arrived by ferry in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at a service area and Durham service rest stops while using a separate vehicle to search for targets and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they took over one million pounds of goods including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The following night, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, jewellery and shoes valued at more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Sweden player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional touring thieves, used hand coverings and masks, turned their phones off as they neared their objectives and strapped a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by the court, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any money that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The other three had no money or assets so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 each, with seven days in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

Judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example operating in Italy in a sports car or possessing a home", the prosecution could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the sum outstanding".