Isak Burglars Instructed to Pay Only £1 Per Person from £1.2 Million Thefts

Members of an Italian clan of thieves who stole over £1.2 million worth of goods, among them from former Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back only £1 each.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of the UK to raid multiple homes in April 2024.

The foursome were jailed for between six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a criminal assets proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to pay back £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Details of the Break-ins

The court was told the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service stations while using another car to scout out targets and carry out thefts.

On March 31 they took over £1m of goods including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were away.

The next evening, the gang broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for two days, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were portrayed by the prosecution as experienced touring thieves, wore hand coverings and masks, switched their phones off as they approached their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to 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 hearing, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had profited 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 Jovanovic was the only one found to have any money that could be "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by police, the court heard, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no assets or assets so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the money was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "such as driving around Italy in a sports car or owning a home", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the sum due".