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Individuals of an Italy-based family of burglars who stole over £1.2m worth of items, among them from former Newcastle United striker Isak, have been mandated to return just £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela Jovanovic and her child Charlie Jovanovic journeyed to the north-east of England to burgle three houses in spring 2024.

The group of four were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a proceeds of crime hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must pay over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The court was told the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while using a separate vehicle to scout out targets and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they stole more than one million pounds of goods including designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

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

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's training ground for two days, they then acted at the home of Sweden striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, 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 attached a number plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Court Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer the prosecution said each of the burglars had profited from their offenses to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with two weeks to be served in jail if he defaulted.

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

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "such as operating in Italy in a sports car or owning a property", the prosecution could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum due".