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Members of an Italian family of burglars who took over £1.2 million worth of items, including from former NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 each.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of England to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for between a decade or less in May 2025.

At a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to pay back £1 each while Charlie must hand over £1,135.

Details of the Break-ins

The judge was told the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while utilizing another car to search for targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over one million pounds of items such as high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a honor from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the residents were away.

The next evening, the crew broke into a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took luxury bags, jewellery and shoes worth more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then struck at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the player's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as experienced touring burglars, used gloves and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by the court, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had profited from their offenses to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court was informed, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he failed to pay.

The other three had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 each, with one week in prison the consequence if the sum was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "such as operating Italy in a sports car or owning a home", prosecutors could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum outstanding".