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Individuals of an Italian family of burglars who took more than £1.2 million valued of items, among them from former Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to return just £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie travelled to the north-east of England to raid three houses in April 2024.

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

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

Details of the Break-ins

The court was told the group came by ferry in the UK on 27 March 2024 and used a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while utilizing a separate vehicle to search for properties and execute thefts.

On March 31 they took more than one million pounds of goods including designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were away.

The next evening, the crew entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's facility for two days, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as experienced touring burglars, used hand coverings and masks, switched their phones on silent as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Legal Proceedings and Sentencing

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

At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by authorities, the court heard, with 14 days to be spent in prison if he defaulted.

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

Judge Spragg said if they were found with property in the coming years, "such as operating Italy in a fast car or owning a home", prosecutors could initiate further action to "recover the amount outstanding".