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

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

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

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were ordered to pay back £1 per person 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 United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and used a RV as their "base of operations", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while utilizing another car to search for properties and carry out thefts.

On 31 March they stole more than £1m of items including high-end fashion, handbags, jewellery and a honor from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The following night, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole luxury bags, jewellery and shoes valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out the football club's training ground for two days, they then struck at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the player's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, used gloves and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their objectives and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all submitted admissions to the same charge.

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

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by authorities, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he defaulted.

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

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example operating in Italy in a fast car or owning a home", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "recover the sum due".