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Members of an Italian family of burglars who stole over £1.2 million valued of goods, among them from ex- Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 each.

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

The foursome were jailed for from a decade or less in May 2025.

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

Details of the Break-ins

The judge was told the group arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and used a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while using a separate vehicle to search for properties and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over one million pounds of goods such as high-end fashion, purses, jewellery and a honor from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the residents were away.

The following night, the gang broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, and stole luxury bags, valuables and shoes worth over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones on silent as they approached their objectives and attached a number plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in a town, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on April 13.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by the court, while his three relations had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.

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

But Charlie was the only one deemed to have any money that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court heard, with 14 days to be served in jail if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no assets or assets so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 each, with seven days in prison the result if the sum was not submitted.

Judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a sports car or owning a home", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the sum outstanding".