🔗 Share this article

Members of an Italy-based clan of thieves who took over £1.2 million worth of items, among them from former NUFC striker Isak, have been mandated to pay back only £1 each.

Brothers Valentino and Giacomo, their female sibling Jela and her son Charlie journeyed to the northeastern of the UK to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024.

The foursome were jailed for between six and 10 years in May 2025.

At a criminal assets hearing at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were ordered to repay £1 each while Charlie Jovanovic must hand over £1,135.

Particulars of the Burglaries

The judge was told the group arrived by ferry in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they parked at a service area and Durham service stations while using another car to search for targets and execute thefts.

On March 31 they took over one million pounds of items including designer clothing, handbags, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on Clayton Road in Jesmond, while the owners were on holiday.

The following night, the crew broke into a home on a private road in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and stole luxury bags, jewellery and footwear worth over one hundred thousand pounds.

Following surveillance of Newcastle United's facility for 48 hours, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Mr Isak in Darras Hall on April 4, taking ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the striker's one hundred twenty thousand pound luxury car.

The gang, who were described by prosecutors as professional itinerant thieves, wore hand coverings and masks, turned their phones on silent as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been stolen from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with rubber straps.

They were arrested in the Birmingham area on 13 April.

Court Hearings and Sentencing

Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was convicted by the court, while his three relations had all entered guilty pleas to the identical accusation.

At the criminal gains session, prosecutor Daniel Cordey said each of the burglars had profited from their crimes to the amount of £1,266,285.93, which was determined by what the victims said they had had stolen.

But Charlie Jovanovic was the sole individual deemed to have any money that could be "recovered", specifically £1,135.50 which had already been seized by police, the court was informed, with two weeks to be spent in prison if he defaulted.

The other three had no assets or property so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 each, with seven days in incarceration the result if the money was not submitted.

Judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the future, "such as driving around in Italy in a sports car or owning a property", prosecutors could initiate further action to "satisfy the sum due".