🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italy-based family of burglars who stole more than £1.2 million worth of items, among them from ex- Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her son Charlie travelled to the north-east of England to burgle multiple homes in April 2024.

The foursome were imprisoned for from a decade or less in 2025.

At a proceeds of crime proceeding at the court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were instructed to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over over a thousand pounds.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge previously heard the group arrived by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "base of operations", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service service stations while utilizing another car to scout out properties and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of items such as high-end fashion, purses, jewellery and a honor from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, valuables and shoes worth more than one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then struck at the residence of Swedish player Mr Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking £10,000 in money, £68,000 worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional touring burglars, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones off as they approached their objectives and attached a number plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Court 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 hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the defendants had profited from their crimes to the value of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one found to have any money that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had previously been confiscated by authorities, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be served in jail if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or property so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the result if the sum was not paid.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a sports car or owning a property", prosecutors could initiate further action to "satisfy the amount due".