Alexander Isak Burglars Ordered to Repay Only £1 Each from £1.2 Million Thefts

Members of an Italy-based family of thieves who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, among them from former Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of England to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

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

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

Details of the Burglaries

The judge was told the gang arrived by ferry in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service service stations while using another car to search for targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over £1m of items such as designer clothing, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and shoes valued at more than £100,000.

After scouting out the football club's training ground for two days, they then struck at the residence of Sweden striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 worth of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, wore hand coverings and face coverings, switched their phones on silent as they approached their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on April 13.

Court Proceedings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by the court, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime session, lawyer the prosecution said every one of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the sole individual deemed to have any funds that could be "recovered", specifically £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by authorities, the judge heard, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no assets or assets so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 each, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the money was not paid.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the coming years, "such as driving around Italy in a fast car or possessing a home", the prosecution could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum outstanding".