Members of an Italian family of burglars who took more than £1.2m worth of items, among them from former Newcastle United striker Isak, have been mandated to pay back only £1 each.
Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of the UK to burgle multiple homes in April 2024.
The foursome were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in May 2025.
At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.
Particulars of the Break-ins
The court was told the group 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 service stations while using another car to scout out targets and execute burglaries.
On 31 March they stole over one million pounds of goods such as high-end fashion, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were away.
The following night, the crew entered a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole luxury bags, jewellery and shoes valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.
Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.
The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced itinerant burglars, used gloves and masks, turned their phones on silent as they neared their objectives and attached a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.
They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.
Court Proceedings and Rulings
Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was found guilty by the court, while his three relations had all entered admissions to the same charge.
At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor 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 victims said they had lost.
But Charlie was the sole individual deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he defaulted.
The other three had no assets or property so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 each, with one week in prison the result if the money was not paid.
Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "such as driving around in Italy in a fast car or owning a home", prosecutors could seek new proceedings to "satisfy the amount outstanding".
