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Individuals of an Italian clan of thieves who took over £1.2m worth of goods, including from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return just £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her child Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of England to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

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

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

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge was told the group arrived by boat in the UK on 27 March 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while utilizing another car to scout out targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they took over one million pounds of items including high-end fashion, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

The following night, the gang broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, valuables and footwear worth more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of the football club's facility for two days, they then struck at the home of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, wore gloves and masks, switched their mobile devices off as they neared their objectives and strapped a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on April 13.

Court Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said every one of the burglars had benefited from their crimes to the value of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one found to have any money that could be "recovered", specifically £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by police, the court heard, with 14 days to be served in prison if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no money or assets so were ordered to make a token amount of £1 each, with one week in incarceration the result if the sum was not submitted.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example operating in Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek further action to "recover the amount outstanding".