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Members of an Italy-based clan of thieves who stole more than £1.2m valued of items, including from former NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela Jovanovic and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of the UK to burgle multiple homes in April 2024.

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

At a proceeds of crime proceeding at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must pay £1,135.

Details of the Break-ins

The court was told the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and used a RV as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham service stations while using another car to search for targets and execute thefts.

On March 31 they stole more than one million pounds of items including designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The following night, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth over £100,000.

After scouting out Newcastle United's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, stealing £10,000 in money, £68,000 valued of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional touring burglars, used hand coverings and masks, turned their mobile devices on silent as they approached their objectives and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime session, prosecutor the prosecution said each of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any money that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with 14 days to be spent in prison if he failed to pay.

The other three had no money or assets so were directed to pay a token amount of £1 each, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the sum was not submitted.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example operating Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", the prosecution could seek new proceedings to "recover the amount outstanding".