Isak Burglars Ordered to Repay Just £1 Each from £1.2 Million Heists

Burglary suspects
Charlie Jovanovic admitted their involvement in the burglaries

Individuals of an Italy-based clan of thieves who stole more than £1.2 million worth of goods, including from former NUFC forward Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 per person.

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

The group of four were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in 2025.

At a proceeds of crime hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Details of the Break-ins

The court was told the gang arrived by ferry in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at a service area and Durham rest stops while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out targets and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they stole more than one million pounds of items such as designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

Valentino Nikolov
Valentino Nikolov was the only one of the group to deny the charge but was convicted by the jury

The following night, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of the football club's facility for 48 hours, they then struck at the home of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, stealing ten thousand pounds in money, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones off as they neared their targets and attached a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Alexander Isak's home
Burglars took money and jewellery valued at eighty thousand pounds and an car from then-Newcastle United striker Isak's home

Legal Hearings and Rulings

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said every one of the burglars had profited from their crimes to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", namely over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or assets so were directed to pay a token amount of £1 each, with one week in incarceration the result if the sum was not paid.

Judge Spragg said if they were discovered with property 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".

Erica Hodge
Erica Hodge

A tech strategist with over a decade of experience in digital transformation and business analytics, passionate about sharing actionable insights.