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- By Kristen Spencer
- 11 Jul 2026
Members of an Italian clan of thieves who took over £1.2m worth of goods, among them from ex- NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.
Siblings Valentino and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of the UK to burgle three houses in April 2024.
The group of four were jailed for from six and 10 years in May 2025.
At a criminal assets proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela Jovanovic and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 per person while Charlie must pay £1,135.
The court previously heard the gang arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service rest stops while utilizing another car to scout out properties and execute burglaries.
On 31 March they stole over one million pounds of goods such as designer clothing, handbags, jewelry and a honor from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were away.
The next evening, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole 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 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 luxury car.
The group, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, wore gloves and face coverings, turned their phones off as they approached their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.
They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.
Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by jurors, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.
At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said each of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had lost.
But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "recovered", specifically £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge was informed, with 14 days to be served in jail if he defaulted.
The other three had no money or assets so were directed to pay a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the result if the sum was not submitted.
Judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "such as driving around in Italy in a fast car or owning a property", the prosecution could seek further action to "satisfy the amount outstanding".
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