Isak Burglars Instructed to Pay Only £1 Each from £1.2m Heists

Burglary suspects
Charlie Jovanovic admitted participating in the burglaries

Members of an Italian clan of thieves who stole over £1.2 million worth of goods, including from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo Nikolov, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the northeastern of England to raid multiple homes in April 2024.

The group of four were imprisoned for from a decade or less in 2025.

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

Particulars of the Break-ins

The judge previously heard the gang came by boat in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and used a RV as their "base of operations", which they parked at a service area and Durham service service stations while utilizing a separate vehicle to search for targets and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they stole more than £1m of goods such as designer clothing, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

Valentino Nikolov
Valentino Nikolov was the only one of the group to deny the charge but was convicted by jurors

The following night, the crew broke into a house on a private road in Whitburn, and took luxury bags, jewellery and footwear valued at over one hundred thousand pounds.

After scouting out Newcastle United's training ground for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking £10,000 in cash, £68,000 valued of jewellery and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as experienced itinerant burglars, used gloves and masks, turned their phones off as they approached their targets and strapped a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in a town, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham on April 13.

Alexander Isak's home
Burglars took money and jewellery valued at £80,000 and an car from then-Newcastle United striker Isak's home

Legal Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was found guilty by jurors, while his three relations had all entered guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer the prosecution said each of the burglars had profited from their offenses to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual found to have any funds that could be "recovered", namely over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the judge was informed, with 14 days to be spent in prison if he failed to pay.

The remaining members had no assets or property so were ordered to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with one week in prison the consequence if the money was not submitted.

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "for example driving around in Italy in a sports car or possessing a property", prosecutors could initiate further action to "recover the amount outstanding".

Autumn Martinez
Autumn Martinez

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