By DAN WOODLAND
Published: 12:06 EDT, 18 March 2025 | Updated: 12:13 EDT, 18 March 2025
A thief who joined three family members in raiding the home of Premier League star Alexander Isak has been convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary.
The Newcastle United striker, who helped his side win the Carabao Cup at the weekend, was not in his house when the 'professional group of travelling burglars' broke in through a glass door last April.
The thieves, who were three members of the same family, living in Italy, stole up to £10,000 in cash after ransacking the house during an 'untidy search'.
Items of bespoke men's jewellery from Frost of London worth about £68,000 - made up of bracelets, necklaces and rings - were also taken, along with the Swedish footballer's Audi RS6 estate car.
The gang arrived in the UK a month before the heist via a ferry from Calais to Dover and travelled to the north-east of England by car.
The thieves had already stolen jewellery and clothes worth more than £1 million and the CBE medal belonging to s Tyneside businesswoman and designer goods worth £100,000 from a woman in Whitburn, Sunderland, in the previous days.
Giacomo Nikolov, 28, his sister Jela Jovanovic, 43, and her son Charlie Jovanovic, 23, previously admitted conspiracy to commit burglary.
A fourth member of the family, Valentino Nikolov, 32, denied the charge but was convicted on Tuesday following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court. Judge Robert Spragg said he will sentence the group later.
Premier League star Alexander Isak (pictured on Sunday) was robbed of his sports car, jewellery worth £68,000 and up to £10,000 in cash following a burglary at his house last year
Valentino Nikolov, 32, was today convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary following the raid in April last year
Giacomo Nikolov, 28
Jela Jovanovic, 43
News of the break-in surfaced in the days following the event after the striker had featured for the Magpies in a win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Dan Cordey, prosecuting, told jurors how Isak left his home in Darras Hall, Northumberland, between 4pm and 10pm on April 4, and he discovered the break-in when he returned and saw his bins had been moved.
The gang broke into his TV room and 'inside an untidy search took place', Mr Cordey said. Officers responded and a police helicopter was dispatched but the intruders had fled the scene.
Isak told detectives that he kept cash in bags upstairs, made up of notes of varying denominations as well as coins, and the amount taken was between £5,000 and £10,000.
Jurors heard a member of the public later found his car abandoned and called the police.
The gang also took a safe, which had been left by the home's previous tenant, although it did not contain anything valuable, Mr Cordey said.
Isak told police he had never used the safe and he had not been able to open it.
CCTV images of the break-in were recorded on what Mr Cordey described as a 'doggy cam'.
Jela's son Charlie Jovanovic, 23, also previously admitted conspiracy to commit burglary
The Darras Hall estate in Ponteland, where the Newcastle United player's home was broken into in April 2024
The prosecution said: 'This was a professional group of travelling burglars. It contained one female and three men - all related.
'Two of those men and one female have admitted their part in pleading guilty.'
Mr Cordey said the fourth man was the defendant Valentino Nikolov.
The gang arrived in the UK via a ferry from Calais to Dover in a Citroen C3 and a Ford motorhome last March.
They headed to London then drove to the North East a few days later, the court has heard.
The gang used the Citroen to travel to break-ins and the motorhome was a base where they slept.
The prosecution claimed the first of the burglaries took place at the home of of Helen and Michael McCardle in Newcastle on March 30, while the couple were on holiday.
The gang stole her CBE medal, the prosecution said, in addition to clothes, jewellery, gold coins and handbags, totalling more than £1m.
Safet Ramic, who is the 58-year-old father of Valentino Nikolov's former partner, was cleared of a single charge of handling stolen goods. He is pictured outside Newcastle Crown Court
The group were also responsible for a raid in Sunderland, where designer clothes, jewellery and cash were stolen to the value of more than £100,000, the prosecution said.
Nikolov, of Tew Park Road, Birmingham, represented himself and used an Italian interpreter.
His brother Giacomo, his sister Jela, and her son Charlie, who all reside in Italy, will be sentenced along with him for conspiracy to commit burglary.
Safet Ramic, who is the 58-year-old father of Valentino Nikolov's former partner, and who is from Winson Street, Birmingham, was cleared of a single charge of handling stolen goods.
Alexander IsakItaly