🔗 Share this article Isak Robbers Instructed to Repay Only £1 Per Person from £1.2 Million Heists Jela Jovanovic confessed to their involvement in the burglaries Individuals of an Italy-based family of thieves who took over £1.2m valued of items, including from ex- NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been ordered to pay back only £1 per person. Brothers Valentino and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her son Charlie Jovanovic journeyed to the north-east of the UK to burgle multiple homes in spring 2024. The group of four were jailed for between six and 10 years in May 2025. At a criminal assets proceeding at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to pay back £1 per person while Charlie must pay over a thousand pounds. Details of the Burglaries The judge was told the gang arrived by boat in the UK on 27 March 2024 and employed a RV as their "base of operations", which they stationed at Scotch Corner and Durham rest stops while using a separate vehicle to search for properties and execute burglaries. On 31 March they took more than one million pounds of goods such as designer clothing, purses, jewellery and a CBE medal from a residence on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were on holiday. 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 home on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth over one hundred thousand pounds. Following surveillance of the football club's facility for two days, they then acted at the residence of Swedish striker Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on 4 April, stealing ten thousand pounds in cash, £68,000 worth of jewellery and the player's £120,000 luxury car. The gang, who were portrayed by the prosecution as experienced touring burglars, wore gloves and masks, turned their phones on silent as they approached their targets and strapped a license plate, which had been taken from a garage in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands. They were apprehended in the Birmingham on 13 April. Thieves stole money and jewellery valued at £80,000 and an car from then-Newcastle United striker Isak's home Court Hearings and Sentencing Valentino Nikolov had pleaded not guilty to the burglary plot but was convicted by jurors, while his three relations had all submitted guilty pleas to the same charge. At the criminal gains hearing, prosecutor the prosecution said each of the defendants had benefited from their crimes to the value of £1,266,285.93, which was based on what the affected parties said they had had stolen. But Charlie Jovanovic was the only one deemed to have any funds that could be "recovered", specifically over a thousand pounds which had already been seized by authorities, the court heard, with 14 days to be spent in jail if he failed to pay. The remaining members had no money or property so were directed to make a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the result if the sum was not paid. The judge Robert Spragg said if they were found with assets in the coming years, "for example driving around in Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "recover the amount outstanding".