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Members of an Italian clan of thieves who stole more than £1.2 million valued of items, including from ex- NUFC striker Alexander Isak, have been mandated to return only £1 per person.

Brothers Valentino and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela Jovanovic and her son Charlie Jovanovic travelled to the north-east of the UK to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

The group of four were jailed for between a decade or less in May 2025.

At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela Jovanovic and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to pay back £1 per person while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Particulars of the Break-ins

The judge was told the gang came by ferry in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at a service area and Durham rest stops while utilizing another car to search for targets and carry out burglaries.

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

The next evening, the crew broke into a home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, valuables and footwear valued at more than £100,000.

After scouting out the football club's training ground for two days, they then struck at the residence of Swedish player Mr Isak in Darras Hall on 4 April, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 Audi RS6.

The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as professional touring burglars, wore gloves and face coverings, turned their mobile devices on silent as they neared their targets and strapped a number plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on April 13.

Legal Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by jurors, while his family members had all submitted admissions to the same charge.

At the proceeds of crime hearing, lawyer Daniel Cordey said each of the burglars had benefited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the affected parties said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one found to have any funds that could be "recovered", namely £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the judge was informed, with two weeks to be spent in jail if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or assets so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 per person, with one week in prison the consequence if the money was not paid.

The judge Spragg said if they were discovered with assets in the future, "for example driving around in Italy in a sports car or owning a home", prosecutors could seek new proceedings to "recover the amount outstanding".