Alexander Isak Burglars Instructed to Repay Just £1 Per Person from £1.2 Million Heists
Individuals of an Italy-based clan of thieves who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, among them from former Newcastle United forward Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.
Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie travelled to the northeastern of the UK to burgle three houses in spring 2024.
The foursome were imprisoned for between six and 10 years in 2025.
At a criminal assets hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were ordered to pay back £1 each while Charlie must hand over £1,135.
Details of the Break-ins
The court was told the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "base of operations", which they stationed at a service area and Durham rest stops while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out properties and execute thefts.
On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of goods such as designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the residents were on holiday.
The next evening, the gang entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took luxury bags, valuables and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.
Following surveillance of the football club's training ground for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in cash, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.
The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as professional itinerant burglars, used gloves and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their objectives and attached a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their vehicle with rubber straps.
They were apprehended in the Birmingham on April 13.
Legal Proceedings and Sentencing
Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was found guilty by the court, while his family members had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.
At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the burglars had benefited from their crimes to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the victims said they had had stolen.
But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "recovered", namely £1,135.50 which had already been seized by police, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be served in jail if he defaulted.
The remaining members had no assets or assets so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 each, with seven days in incarceration the result if the money was not paid.
The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example operating Italy in a fast car or owning a home", the prosecution could initiate further action to "recover the sum due".