Isak Robbers Ordered to Repay Only £1 Per Person from £1.2m Thefts

Members of an Italy-based family of burglars who stole over £1.2m valued of goods, among them from former NUFC striker Isak, have been ordered to pay back just £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie journeyed to the northeastern of England to burgle three houses in spring 2024.

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

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must pay £1,135.

Details of the Burglaries

The court previously heard the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and used a campervan as their "headquarters", which they parked at a service area and Durham service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out targets and execute burglaries.

On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of goods including high-end fashion, handbags, jewelry and a honor from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the residents were on holiday.

The following night, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, valuables and footwear valued at more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as professional touring burglars, used gloves and face coverings, switched their phones off as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his three relations had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had profited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the only one deemed to have any money that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the judge heard, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no money or assets so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with one week in incarceration the result if the sum was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "such as operating in Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "recover the sum due".