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Members of an Italy-based family of burglars who took over £1.2 million worth of items, including from former NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back just £1 each.

Brothers Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of England to raid three houses in spring 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for between six and 10 years in 2025.

At a proceeds of crime proceeding at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Particulars of the Break-ins

The judge was told the gang arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a campervan as their "base of operations", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham service service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to scout out targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole over one million pounds of goods including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a honor from a residence on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of 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, taking ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 valued of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant thieves, used hand coverings and face coverings, switched their phones on silent as they neared their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in a town, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by the court, while his three relations had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, prosecutor the prosecution said every one of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the affected parties said they had had stolen.

But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court was informed, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or property so were ordered to make a token amount of £1 per person, with one week in incarceration the result if the sum was not paid.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "for example operating in Italy in a fast car or possessing a home", prosecutors could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum outstanding".