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Individuals of an Italy-based family of burglars who stole over £1.2m worth of items, including from former Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of England to raid multiple homes in April 2024.

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

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the gang arrived by ferry in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while utilizing another car to search for targets and execute burglaries.

On 31 March they took more than £1m of goods including designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were away.

The following night, the crew broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and footwear valued at more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, taking £10,000 in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as experienced touring burglars, wore gloves and masks, turned their mobile devices off as they neared their objectives and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in a town, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the value of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any money that could be "realised", namely £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with 14 days to be served in prison if he defaulted.

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

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a fast car or possessing a home", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the amount due".