Isak Burglars Instructed to Repay Only £1 Per Person from £1.2m Heists
Members of an Italian family of burglars who stole over £1.2 million worth of items, among them from former NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back just £1 per person.
Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of the UK to burgle three houses in spring 2024.
The foursome were imprisoned for between six and 10 years in May 2025.
At a proceeds of crime hearing at the court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to pay back £1 each while Charlie must pay over a thousand pounds.
Particulars of the Break-ins
The judge 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 a service area and Durham service service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to search for properties and carry out burglaries.
On 31 March they stole over £1m of goods including high-end fashion, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.
The following night, the gang broke into a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, valuables and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.
Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for two days, they then struck at the residence of Sweden player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.
The group, who were described by prosecutors as experienced itinerant thieves, used gloves and face coverings, switched their phones on silent as they neared their targets and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with elastic bands.
They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.
Court Proceedings and Rulings
Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the identical accusation.
At the criminal gains session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the burglars had benefited from their crimes to the value of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.
But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual deemed to have any funds that could be "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he failed to pay.
The remaining members had no assets or assets so were directed to make a token amount of £1 per person, with seven days in prison the consequence if the sum was not submitted.
Judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the future, "such as operating Italy in a sports car or owning a home", prosecutors could seek new proceedings to "recover the sum outstanding".
