🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italian clan of thieves who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, including from former NUFC forward Isak, have been ordered to return only £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela and her child Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of the UK to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Particulars of the Break-ins

The court was told the gang came by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham service stations while utilizing another car to scout out targets and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they stole more than £1m of goods such as designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a honor from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the residents were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew entered a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, valuables and shoes worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out Newcastle United's facility for two days, they then acted at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The group, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, wore gloves and face coverings, switched their phones off as they neared their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Rulings

Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by the court, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

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

But Charlie was the sole individual deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court heard, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no assets or assets so were ordered to make a token amount of £1 each, with seven days in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

Judge Spragg said if they were found with property in the future, "for example driving around Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could seek new proceedings to "recover the amount due".