🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italian family of thieves who took over £1.2m worth of goods, including from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela and her son Charlie travelled to the northeastern of England to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

The foursome were jailed for between six and 10 years in 2025.

At a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to pay back £1 per person while Charlie must pay £1,135.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court was told the gang came by ferry in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while using a separate vehicle to scout out targets and carry out thefts.

On March 31 they stole over £1m of items including designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the residents were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out Newcastle United's facility for two days, they then struck at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional itinerant burglars, used hand coverings and face coverings, turned their mobile devices off as they neared their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was found guilty by the court, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said every one of the burglars 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 "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court was informed, with 14 days to be spent in prison if he defaulted.

The other three had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 per person, with one week in prison the result if the money was not submitted.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", prosecutors could seek further action to "satisfy the sum due".