🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italy-based family of thieves who stole over £1.2m worth of goods, among them from former NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return just £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her child Charlie travelled to the northeastern of the UK to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

The group of four were imprisoned for from a decade or less in 2025.

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

Details of the Break-ins

The court previously heard the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham rest stops while using a separate vehicle to scout out properties and carry out thefts.

On 31 March they took more than £1m of goods including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a honor from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, valuables and shoes valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's training ground for two days, they then acted at the home of Sweden striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional touring burglars, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones on silent as they neared their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in a town, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said every one of the defendants had profited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the only one deemed to have any money that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he defaulted.

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

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with property in the future, "such as driving around in Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".