Isak Burglars Ordered to Repay Just £1 Per Person from £1.2m Heists
Members of an Italian family of thieves who stole over £1.2m valued of goods, among them from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 per person.
Siblings Valentino and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of the UK to raid multiple homes in spring 2024.
The foursome were jailed for from six and 10 years in May 2025.
At a proceeds of crime hearing at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to pay back £1 each while Charlie must hand over over a thousand pounds.
Details of the Burglaries
The judge previously heard the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a RV as their "base of operations", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to search for properties and execute burglaries.
On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of goods including designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were away.
The next evening, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, valuables and shoes worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.
Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for two days, they then struck at the home of Sweden striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds valued of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.
The group, who were described by prosecutors as professional touring thieves, wore gloves and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their targets and strapped a number plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.
They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.
Court Hearings and Rulings
Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the identical accusation.
At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said each of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had had stolen.
But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the court was informed, with two weeks to be served in prison if he defaulted.
The other three had no money or property so were directed to pay a token amount of £1 each, with one week in incarceration the result if the money was not paid.
The judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "for example driving around in Italy in a fast car or possessing a property", prosecutors could initiate further action to "recover the amount outstanding".