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Individuals of an Italy-based family of burglars who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, among them from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.

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

The foursome were jailed for from six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a criminal assets proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to pay back £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must pay £1,135.

Details of the Burglaries

The judge was told the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out properties and execute thefts.

On March 31 they took more than one million pounds of goods such as high-end fashion, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew entered a home on a private road in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and shoes valued at more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for two days, they then struck at the residence of Sweden player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the player's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, used gloves and masks, switched their phones off as they neared their objectives 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 April 13.

Legal Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one found to have any money that could be "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the judge heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he failed to pay.

The other three had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 per person, with one week in incarceration the consequence if the money was not paid.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".