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Members of an Italian clan of burglars who stole more than £1.2m valued of goods, including from former Newcastle United striker 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 northeastern of the UK to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

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

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to pay back £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must pay over a thousand pounds.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court was told the group arrived by ferry in the UK on 27 March 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while utilizing another car to search for targets and carry out thefts.

On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of items including designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were away.

The next evening, the gang entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, and stole luxury bags, valuables and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, stealing £10,000 in money, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, used hand coverings and face coverings, turned their phones off as they neared their objectives and strapped a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Legal Proceedings and Rulings

Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime session, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the amount 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 "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no assets or property so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 each, with one week in incarceration the result if the sum was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example driving around Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", the prosecution could initiate new proceedings to "recover the amount outstanding".