Alexander Isak Burglars Ordered to Pay Only £1 Each from £1.2m Thefts

Members of an Italy-based family of thieves who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, among them from ex- NUFC forward Isak, have been ordered to return only £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie travelled to the north-east of England to raid three houses in spring 2024.

The group of four were imprisoned for between a decade or less in May 2025.

At a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must pay over a thousand pounds.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court was told the gang arrived by boat in the UK on 27 March 2024 and used a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while utilizing another car to search for properties and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over £1m of goods including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a honor from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out the football club's facility for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Swedish striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, taking £10,000 in money, £68,000 valued of jewelry and the player's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced touring burglars, used gloves and masks, turned their phones off as they approached their objectives and attached a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was found guilty by jurors, while his three relations had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said each of the burglars had profited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the sole individual deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by police, the court heard, with 14 days to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

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

Judge Spragg said if they were found with property in the coming years, "for example driving around Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", the prosecution could initiate further action to "recover the sum outstanding".