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Members of an Italian clan of thieves who took more than £1.2 million valued of goods, among them from former Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return only £1 per person.

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

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

At a criminal assets hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to pay back £1 each while Charlie must pay £1,135.

Particulars of the Break-ins

The court was told the group came by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while using a separate vehicle to search for targets and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over one million pounds of items including designer clothing, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, valuables and footwear valued at more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for two days, they then acted at the home of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as experienced itinerant thieves, wore hand coverings and face coverings, turned their phones 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 elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Court Proceedings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered admissions to the same charge.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "recovered", specifically £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by police, the court was informed, with two weeks to be served in prison if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or assets so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 each, with seven days in prison the consequence if the money was not submitted.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "such as driving around Italy in a fast car or owning a home", the prosecution could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".