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Members of an Italy-based family of burglars who took over £1.2m valued of goods, among them from former Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return only £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic journeyed to the northeastern of England to raid three houses in spring 2024.

The group of four were jailed for between six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a proceeds of crime proceeding at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to pay back £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the gang came by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they parked at a service area and Durham service service stations while utilizing another car to search for targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole more than one million pounds of goods such as designer clothing, handbags, jewelry and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

The next evening, the gang broke into a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Sweden player Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The group, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, used gloves and masks, turned their phones off as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot 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, lawyer Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one found to have any funds that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court was informed, with 14 days to be served in jail if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no money or property so were ordered to make a token amount of £1 per person, with one week in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "for example driving around Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek further action to "recover the sum due".