Isak Burglars Instructed to Pay Just £1 Per Person from £1.2m Thefts

Members of an Italian clan of burglars who stole over £1.2m worth of items, including from ex- Newcastle United striker Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of England to raid three houses in April 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for between a decade or less in 2025.

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to pay back £1 per person while Charlie must pay £1,135.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the gang came by ferry in the UK on 27 March 2024 and used a RV as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham service service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to search for properties and execute thefts.

On 31 March they took more than £1m of goods including designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, and took luxury bags, jewellery and shoes worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then struck at the home of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, used gloves and face coverings, turned their mobile devices on silent as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.

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

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

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