🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italy-based clan of burglars who stole over £1.2m valued of goods, including from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of the UK to raid three houses in spring 2024.

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

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

Details of the Burglaries

The judge was told the gang came by ferry in the UK on 27 March 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham rest stops while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out properties and execute thefts.

On March 31 they took more than one million pounds of goods including high-end fashion, handbags, jewelry and a honor from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

The next evening, the gang entered a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and stole designer handbags, valuables and footwear worth over £100,000.

After scouting out the football club's facility for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as professional itinerant burglars, wore hand coverings and masks, switched their phones on silent as they approached their targets and attached a number plate, which had been stolen from a garage in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on April 13.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer the prosecution said every one of the defendants had benefited from their offenses to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court heard, with two weeks to be served in jail if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no assets or property so were directed to make a token amount of £1 per person, with seven days in prison the result if the money was not paid.

Judge Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "such as driving around Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".