🔗 Share this article

Individuals of an Italian clan of burglars who took more than £1.2m worth of items, among them from former NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return just £1 per person.

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

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

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Details of the Break-ins

The judge previously heard the gang came by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "base of operations", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham rest stops while utilizing another car to scout out targets and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they stole more than £1m of items such as high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and shoes worth 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 £10,000 in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were portrayed by the prosecution as experienced touring burglars, used gloves and face coverings, switched their phones off as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Rulings

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

At the criminal gains hearing, 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 lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one found to have any money that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by authorities, the court heard, with two weeks to be served in jail if he failed to pay.

The other three had no assets or property so were directed to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the sum was not paid.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "such as driving around Italy in a sports car or owning a home", prosecutors could seek further action to "satisfy the amount due".