Alexander Isak Burglars Ordered to Repay Just £1 Per Person from £1.2m Thefts

Burglary suspects
Charlie Jovanovic admitted their involvement in the crimes

Members of an Italy-based clan of thieves who stole over £1.2 million valued of items, among them from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back just £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino Nikolov and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her child Charlie journeyed to the north-east of England to raid three houses in spring 2024.

The group of four were imprisoned for from six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a criminal assets hearing at Newcastle Crown Court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court previously heard the group arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at Scotch Corner and Durham rest stops while utilizing another car to scout out properties and execute burglaries.

On March 31 they took over one million pounds of goods such as designer clothing, handbags, jewelry and a CBE medal from a house on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.

Valentino Nikolov
Valentino Nikolov was the only one of the group to contest burglary but was found guilty by the jury

The next evening, the gang entered a house on a private road in Whitburn, and stole luxury bags, jewellery and shoes worth more than £100,000.

After scouting out Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Swedish player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, stealing ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 valued of jewelry and the striker's £120,000 luxury car.

The gang, who were portrayed by prosecutors as experienced itinerant thieves, wore gloves and masks, switched their phones off as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in a town, on to their car with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Alexander Isak's home
Burglars stole money and jewellery valued at £80,000 and an Audi from footballer Isak's property

Legal Proceedings and Rulings

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all entered guilty pleas to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said every one of the defendants had benefited from their offenses to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one found to have any funds that could be "realised", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by police, the court was informed, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he failed to pay.

The other three had no money or assets so were directed to pay a token amount of £1 each, with one week 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, "such as operating Italy in a sports car or owning a property", the prosecution could seek new proceedings to "recover the sum outstanding".

Anita Flores
Anita Flores

A technology strategist with over a decade of experience in IT consulting, specializing in digital transformation and cloud solutions for enterprises.