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Individuals of an Italian clan of burglars who took more than £1.2m worth of goods, among them from ex- Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back only £1 each.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her child Charlie travelled to the north-east of the UK to burgle three houses in April 2024.

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

At a proceeds of crime hearing at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Break-ins

The judge was told the gang arrived by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service service stations while using a separate vehicle to search for targets and carry out burglaries.

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

The following night, the gang broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, valuables and footwear worth over £100,000.

After scouting out the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the home of Sweden striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing £10,000 in money, £68,000 valued of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional touring thieves, used hand coverings and masks, turned their phones off as they neared their objectives and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Legal Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had denied conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his three relations had all submitted admissions to the same charge.

At the criminal gains session, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the burglars had benefited from their offenses to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one found to have any funds that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by police, the judge heard, with 14 days to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The remaining members had no money or assets so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 each, with seven days in prison the result if the sum was not paid.

Judge Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "for example operating Italy in a sports car or owning a home", the prosecution could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum outstanding".