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Individuals of an Italy-based family of burglars who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, including from former NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 each.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of the UK to raid three houses in April 2024.

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

At a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to pay back £1 per person while Charlie must pay £1,135.

Details of the Break-ins

The court was told the group came by boat in the UK on 27 March 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham service stations while utilizing another car to search for properties and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over £1m of goods including designer clothing, handbags, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the residents were on holiday.

The following night, the gang broke into a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, valuables and shoes valued at more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then struck at the home of Swedish player Mr Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the player's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced touring burglars, wore hand coverings and face coverings, switched their phones off as they approached their objectives and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on April 13.

Legal Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was found guilty by the court, while his family members had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said every one of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court heard, with 14 days to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or assets so were directed to pay a token amount of £1 per person, with seven days in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

Judge Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "for example driving around Italy in a fast car or owning a home", prosecutors could seek further action to "recover the amount outstanding".