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Individuals of an Italy-based family of thieves who stole over £1.2m worth of items, among them from former Newcastle United striker Isak, have been ordered to pay back just £1 each.

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

The foursome were jailed for from a decade or less in 2025.

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

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge was told the group came by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while using another car to search for properties and carry out thefts.

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

The following night, the gang entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and footwear valued at more than £100,000.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, stealing ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The gang, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones on silent as they approached their objectives and strapped a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all submitted admissions to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, prosecutor 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", namely £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The other three had no money or assets so were directed to pay a nominal fee of £1 per person, with one week in prison the result if the sum was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could seek further action to "satisfy the amount due".