Valentino Nikolov and his family members have been jailed over raid on property belonging to Newcastle United star
Valentino Nikolov
Valentino Nikolov
A Birmingham thief and his relatives who raided the home of Premier League star Alexander Isak have been locked up.
The family of 'professional travelling burglars' included siblings Valentino Nikolov, 32, Giacomo Nikolov, 28, and Jela Jovanovic, 43, as well as Jovanovic’s son Charlie Jovanovic, 23.
They made off with Isak's sports car, £68,000-worth of jewellery and up to £10,000 in cash.
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The Newcastle United and Sweden striker was not at home when the burglars targeted the property.
The convicts swiped jewellery and clothes worth more than £1 million and a CBE medal belonging to Tyneside businesswoman Helen McArdle before they set their sights on Isak's belongings.
They also made off with designer goods worth £100,000 from a woman in Whitburn, Sunderland, days earlier.
Valentino, formerly of Tew Park Road, Birmingham, was jailed for ten years after being convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary earlier this year.
Giacomo, Jela and Charlie, who all lived in Italy, admitted the same charge.
Giacomo was jailed for eight years, Jela for seven years and two months, and Charlie for six years and nine months yesterday,Tuesday, May 20.
Judge Robert Spragg said the sentences meant the defendants met the Home Office criteria for automatic deportation.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the crooks travelled from Italy to the UK last year to 'commit carefully planned burglaries targeting high value properties'.
The gang arrived on a ferry from Calais to Dover and drove in a Citreon C3 across the UK, sleeping in a Ford motorhome during their week-long crime spree.
They headed to London, then drove to the North East a few days later.
They used the Citroen to travel to break-ins and the motorhome was a base where they slept, the prosecution said.
The three men carried out the burglaries, donning gloves and masks to cover their tracks.
Jela waited outside in the getaway car.
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Isak's home in Darras Hall, Northumberland, was burgled last April.
The court heard Isak had left his house between 4pm and 10pm on April 4.
He discovered the break-in when he returned and saw his bins had been moved.
Dan Cordey, prosecuting, said mobile phone evidence indicated the gang had been carrying out 'surveillance' at Newcastle United's training ground in the two days leading up to the break-in 'to establish movements to and from' the facility.
The thieves broke into Isak’s home through a glass door and carried out an 'untidy search' of the property.
They made off with cash, jewellery and an Audi RS6 estate car, which a member of the public later found abandoned.
Isak told detectives he kept cash in bags upstairs, made up of notes of varying denominations as well as coins.
The amount taken was between £5,000 and £10,000, he told police.
The footballer said bespoke men’s jewellery from Frost of London worth about £68,000 – made up of bracelets, necklaces and rings – was also stolen.
The gang also took a safe left by the home’s previous occupant, although it did not contain anything valuable.
CCTV images of the break-in, recorded on a 'doggy cam', showed three masked men climb on to a first floor balcony and disappear from view before a large black item was thrown from the balcony.
In a statement read to the court, Isak said he had been left with 'a sense of unease' by the 'attack' on his home.
A player liaison manager at Newcastle United said the club had been forced to invest in monitored alarm systems and security patrols following a spate of burglaries targeted at players.
Isak said he had lived in the North East of England since August 2022 and had not experienced any problems in the first period of living there.
He said: "Things changed, however, on April 4, 2024, when, following an evening at a colleague’s house, I returned to my home to find I had been burgled and my car stolen from my drive.
"It appeared a significant level of force had been used to attack the property, a large safe had been thrown over an upstairs balcony… My car had been used as a battering ram to force through the gates of my house.
"None of the property stolen from my home was ever recovered.
"The attack on my home has left me with a sense of unease and I fear it could reoccur."
Glenn Patterson, a player liaison officer at Newcastle United, said in a statement that a spate of burglaries and attempted burglaries targeted at players had impacted the players and forced the club to conduct an extensive review of player safety.
He said the club had invested in monitored alarm systems and recruited private security patrols 'to allay players’ fears for their families and homes'.
The court heard before burgling Isak’s home, the 'forensically aware' thieves had already stolen a CBE medal and jewellery and clothes worth more than £1 million from Tyneside businesswoman Helen McCardle.
Mrs McCardle was on holiday in Spain with her husband when their four-storey home in Jesmond, Newcastle, was burgled.
The thieves made it into her bedroom through a patio door and raided her walk-in wardrobe, stealing designer items including Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton handbags which she had collected over the years.
She said her CBE, presented to her by the late Queen Elizabeth, was priceless.
In a statement, she said the thieves had 'not only stolen our belongings but… our privacy and security'.
Police traced the car used in the burglaries and the defendants were arrested in the West Midlands in April.
They also took designer goods worth £100,000 from Stephanie Stokoe, who lived in a gated cul-de-sac in South Tyneside in the previous days.
She said in a statement that she would 'never get over walking in to find our home torn to pieces'.
The defendants attended by video link from prison and had an Italian interpreter to translate the hearing.