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Individuals of an Italian clan of thieves who stole more than £1.2m valued of items, among them from ex- NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back just £1 each.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic journeyed to the northeastern of England to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

The group of four were jailed for between six and 10 years in 2025.

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 each while Charlie must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Details of the Burglaries

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

On 31 March they stole over one million pounds of items such as designer clothing, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the residents were on holiday.

The following night, the crew broke into a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole designer handbags, jewellery and shoes worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for two days, they then acted at the home of Sweden player Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewellery and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The group, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced itinerant thieves, used hand coverings and masks, switched their phones on silent as they neared their targets and strapped a number plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Rulings

Valentino had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his family members had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the criminal gains hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey 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 was the sole individual deemed 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 prison if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or property so were directed to pay a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the sum was not submitted.

Judge Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "for example driving around Italy in a fast car or owning a home", prosecutors could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum outstanding".