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Members of an Italy-based clan of thieves who took more than £1.2m valued of goods, among them from former NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return just £1 each.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their sister Jela and her child Charlie travelled to the northeastern of the UK to raid three houses in April 2024.

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

At a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were ordered to pay back £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must pay over a thousand pounds.

Particulars of the Break-ins

The court previously heard the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a RV as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while using another car to search for targets and carry out burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over £1m of items such as high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

The following night, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, valuables and shoes worth over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Sweden striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced itinerant burglars, used gloves and masks, switched their mobile devices on silent as they approached their objectives and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one found to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court heard, with 14 days to be spent in jail if he failed to pay.

The other three had no money or assets 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.

The judge Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "such as driving around in Italy in a sports car or owning a home", the prosecution could initiate new proceedings to "recover the sum outstanding".