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Individuals of an Italy-based family of burglars who took more than £1.2m valued of goods, among them from former NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of the UK to raid three houses in April 2024.

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

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The judge was told the gang arrived by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while utilizing another car to scout out properties and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they took over £1m of items such as designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were away.

The following night, the gang entered a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole luxury bags, valuables and footwear 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 April 4, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional itinerant thieves, wore hand coverings and face coverings, turned their mobile devices on silent as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had benefited from their offenses to the value of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "recovered", namely £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he failed to pay.

The other three had no money or property so were ordered to make a token amount of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the sum was not submitted.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with property in the future, "for example driving around Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek further action to "satisfy the sum due".