Alexander Isak Robbers Ordered to Repay Only £1 Each from £1.2 Million Thefts

Individuals of an Italian clan of thieves who stole over £1.2 million valued of goods, among them from former NUFC forward Isak, have been ordered to return just £1 per person.

Siblings Valentino and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie travelled to the north-east of the UK to raid three houses in spring 2024.

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

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela and the Nikolov brothers were ordered to pay back £1 per person while Charlie must pay over a thousand pounds.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The court previously heard the gang arrived by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and used a campervan as their "headquarters", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service service stations while using another car to search for properties and carry out burglaries.

On 31 March they stole more than one million pounds of items including designer clothing, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday.

The next evening, the gang entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took luxury bags, jewellery and footwear valued at more than one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's training ground for two days, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, taking £10,000 in cash, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.

The gang, who were described by the prosecution as professional itinerant burglars, used gloves and face coverings, switched their phones off as they neared their targets and attached a number plate, which had been stolen from a auto shop in a town, on to their vehicle with elastic bands.

They were apprehended in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Court Proceedings and Sentencing

Valentino Nikolov had denied the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, 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 profited from their crimes to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was determined by what the victims said they had lost.

But Charlie was the only one deemed to have any money that could be "realised", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by police, the court heard, with 14 days to be served in prison if he defaulted.

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

The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "such as operating Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could seek new proceedings to "recover the amount due".