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Members of an Italian family of burglars who stole more than £1.2 million valued of goods, among them from ex- Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return only £1 each.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie journeyed to the northeastern of the UK to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

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

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

Details of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the gang arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while using another car to search for targets and execute burglaries.

On 31 March they stole more than one million pounds of items including designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a honor from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the residents were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, jewellery and shoes worth more than £100,000.

After scouting out Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the player's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional touring burglars, wore hand coverings and masks, turned their mobile devices on silent as they approached their objectives and strapped a number plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Legal Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had profited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the affected parties said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", namely £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by authorities, the court heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he defaulted.

The other three had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 each, with one week in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with property in the future, "for example driving around in Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek further action to "satisfy the sum outstanding".