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Members of an Italy-based family of thieves who took more than £1.2 million worth of items, including from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return just £1 each.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of England to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.

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

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to pay back £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the group came by boat in the United Kingdom on 27 March 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service rest stops while using another car to scout out targets and execute burglaries.

On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of items including high-end fashion, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

The following night, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, valuables and footwear valued at more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, stealing £10,000 in money, £68,000 valued of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were described by prosecutors as professional itinerant burglars, wore hand coverings and masks, turned their phones on silent as they approached their objectives and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham on April 13.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the same charge.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had benefited from their offenses to the value of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any money that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he failed to pay.

The other three had no assets or property so were directed to pay a nominal fee of £1 each, with one week in prison the result if the sum was not submitted.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", prosecutors could initiate further action to "recover the sum outstanding".