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Members of an Italian family of thieves who stole more than £1.2 million valued of items, including from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been ordered to pay back just £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her child Charlie travelled to the northeastern of the UK to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in May 2025.

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

Details of the Break-ins

The judge was told the gang arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham rest stops while using another car to search for properties and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they stole more than £1m of goods such as high-end fashion, purses, jewellery and a honor from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were away.

The following night, the gang broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, valuables and footwear worth over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, stealing £10,000 in money, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as professional touring burglars, wore hand coverings and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their targets and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Rulings

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

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

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one found to have any money that could be "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court heard, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no money or property so were directed to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "such as operating Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek new proceedings to "recover the amount outstanding".