🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italy-based clan of thieves who took more than £1.2 million worth of goods, among them from former Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.

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

The foursome were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in May 2025.

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

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out targets and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they took more than £1m of items such as designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a honor from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The following night, the gang entered a home on a private road in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, valuables and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out the football club's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Sweden player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as experienced touring burglars, wore gloves and face coverings, turned their phones off as they neared their objectives and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the burglars had profited from their offenses to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the sole individual deemed to have any money that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court was informed, with 14 days to be served in prison if he failed to pay.

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

The judge Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "for example operating Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the sum outstanding".