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Members of an Italian clan of thieves who took over £1.2m worth of items, among them from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return just £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of England to burgle multiple homes in April 2024.

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

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Break-ins

The court previously heard the group came by boat in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service stations while utilizing another car to scout out properties and execute thefts.

On March 31 they stole over one million pounds of items such as designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a honor from a residence on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, and took luxury bags, jewellery and footwear valued at over £100,000.

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 cash, £68,000 valued of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional touring burglars, used hand coverings and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their objectives and strapped a license 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 area on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by the court, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had had stolen.

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 14 days to be served in jail if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no assets or property so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in prison the consequence if the sum was not submitted.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "for example driving around Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".