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

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie travelled to the north-east of England to burgle three houses in spring 2024.

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

At a criminal assets proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 each while Charlie must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The judge was told the gang arrived by ferry in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while using a separate vehicle to scout out targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over £1m of items including designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were away.

The next evening, the gang broke into a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took luxury bags, jewellery and shoes worth more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then struck at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, stealing ten thousand pounds in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced itinerant thieves, used gloves and masks, turned their phones on silent as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on April 13.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino had denied the burglary plot but was found guilty by the court, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had had stolen.

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

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

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "for example operating Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", the prosecution could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum due".