Isak Burglars Instructed to Pay Only £1 Each from £1.2 Million Thefts
Individuals of an Italy-based family of thieves who took over £1.2m worth of items, including from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.
Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of England to raid multiple homes in April 2024.
The group of four were jailed for between six and 10 years in May 2025.
At a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were ordered to pay back £1 each while Charlie must pay over a thousand pounds.
Particulars of the Burglaries
The judge was told the gang came by ferry in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to search for properties and carry out thefts.
On March 31 they took more than £1m of goods such as designer clothing, handbags, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were away.
The next evening, the gang entered a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took luxury bags, valuables and shoes worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.
Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for two days, they then struck at the home of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the player's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.
The gang, who were described by prosecutors as experienced itinerant burglars, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones off as they neared their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.
They were apprehended in the Birmingham on April 13.
Legal Proceedings and Sentencing
Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.
At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had profited from their offenses to the value 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 "realised", 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 failed to pay.
The remaining members had no money or property so were directed to make a token amount of £1 each, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the sum was not paid.
Judge Spragg said if they were found with property in the coming years, "for example operating in Italy in a fast car or possessing a home", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".
