Isak Robbers Instructed to Repay Just £1 Per Person from £1.2m Heists
Members of an Italian clan of burglars who stole over £1.2m valued of goods, among them from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been ordered to return only £1 each.
Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their sister Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of the UK to burgle multiple homes in April 2024.
The foursome were imprisoned for between a decade or less in May 2025.
At a criminal assets proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to repay £1 each while Charlie must hand over over a thousand pounds.
Particulars of the Burglaries
The judge was told the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out targets and carry out thefts.
On March 31 they took over one million pounds of goods such as high-end fashion, handbags, jewellery and a honor from a residence on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were away.
The next evening, the gang entered a home on a private road in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, valuables and footwear worth over £100,000.
After scouting out Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the player's one hundred twenty thousand pound Audi RS6.
The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, wore gloves and masks, switched their mobile devices on silent as they neared their objectives and strapped a number plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in a town, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.
They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.
Legal Proceedings and Sentencing
Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.
At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the value of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had had stolen.
But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "realised", namely £1,135.50 which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he failed to pay.
The remaining members had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a token amount of £1 each, with seven days in prison the consequence if the sum was not paid.
The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "such as operating in Italy in a sports car or possessing a home", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "recover the amount due".