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Members of an Italian family of burglars who took over £1.2m worth of items, among them from former Newcastle United striker Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie journeyed to the north-east of the UK to raid multiple homes in April 2024.

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

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

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court previously heard the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and used a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while utilizing another car to scout out properties and execute burglaries.

On 31 March they took over £1m of items such as designer clothing, handbags, jewelry and a honor from a residence on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang entered a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole luxury bags, valuables and footwear worth more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for two days, they then struck at the residence of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

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

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer the prosecution said every one of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the court was informed, with 14 days to be served in prison if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no assets or property so were directed to pay a token amount of £1 each, with seven days in prison the result if the sum was not paid.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "such as driving around Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", prosecutors could initiate further action to "recover the amount due".