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Individuals of an Italian family of burglars who stole over £1.2m worth of items, including from ex- Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return just £1 each.

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

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

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

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court previously heard the gang arrived by boat in the UK on 27 March 2024 and used a RV as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while using a separate vehicle to search for targets and execute thefts.

On 31 March they stole over one million pounds of goods including designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew broke into a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took luxury bags, valuables and shoes valued at more than 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 Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The group, who were described by prosecutors as experienced touring thieves, wore hand coverings and masks, switched their phones off as they neared their objectives and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Legal Proceedings and Rulings

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was found guilty by jurors, while his three relations had all entered admissions to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the defendants had profited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any money that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he failed to pay.

The other three had no assets or property so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 each, with one week in prison the result if the money was not paid.

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