Isak Robbers Instructed to Repay Just £1 Each from £1.2 Million Thefts
Individuals of an Italian clan of thieves who took more than £1.2m valued of goods, including from former NUFC forward Alexander Isak, have been mandated to pay back only £1 each.
Brothers Valentino and Giacomo, their sister Jela and her son Charlie journeyed to the north-east of the UK to burgle multiple homes in April 2024.
The group of four were imprisoned for from a decade or less in 2025.
At a proceeds of crime proceeding at the court, Jela and the brothers Nikolov were instructed to pay back £1 per person while Charlie must hand over over a thousand pounds.
Particulars of the Burglaries
The court was told the group came by boat in the UK on March 27, 2024 and employed a RV as their "headquarters", which they stationed at a service area and Durham service stations while utilizing another car to search for targets and execute burglaries.
On March 31 they stole more than one million pounds of items including high-end fashion, purses, jewelry and a CBE medal from a residence on a street in Jesmond, Newcastle, while the owners were away.
The next evening, the crew entered a house on a gated cul-de-sac in Whitburn, South Tyneside, and took designer handbags, jewellery and footwear worth more than £100,000.
After scouting out the football club's training ground for two days, they then acted at the residence of Sweden player Alexander Isak in Darras Hall, Ponteland on April 4, stealing ten thousand pounds in money, sixty-eight thousand pounds worth of jewelry and the player's £120,000 luxury car.
The group, who were described by the prosecution as experienced itinerant thieves, wore hand coverings and masks, turned their phones off as they approached their targets and attached a license plate, which had been taken from a auto shop in Chester-le-Street, on to their car with elastic bands.
They were arrested in the Birmingham on 13 April.
Legal Hearings and Rulings
Valentino had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to burglary but was found guilty by jurors, while his three relations had all entered admissions to the identical accusation.
At the proceeds of crime session, lawyer the prosecution said every one of the burglars had profited from their offenses to the amount of over £1.2 million, which was based on what the affected parties said they had had stolen.
But Charlie was the sole individual found to have any money that could be "realised", namely £1,135.50 which had already been seized by authorities, the judge heard, with two weeks to be served in prison if he defaulted.
The remaining members had no money or assets so were ordered to pay a nominal fee of £1 per person, with seven days in incarceration the consequence if the sum was not paid.
The judge Robert Spragg said if they were discovered with property in the coming years, "for example operating in Italy in a fast car or owning a property", prosecutors could initiate new proceedings to "satisfy the sum outstanding".
