A “professional group of travelling burglars” broke into Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak’s home and made off with his car, jewellery worth £68,000 and up to £10,000 in cash, Newcastle Crown Court has heard.
The Sweden international was not at his Darras Hall residence in Northumberland when the gang broke in through a glass door last April.
Isak discovered the break-in when he returned home and noticed his bins had been moved. The burglars had conducted what prosecutor Dan Cordey described as “an untidy search” of the TV room.
The court heard the thieves stole cash between £5,000 and £10,000, along with jewellery worth approximately £68,000 and Isak’s Audi, which was later found abandoned by a member of the public.
CCTV footage of the incident was captured on what Mr Cordey referred to as a “doggy cam”.
“This was a professional group of travelling burglars,” Cordey told the court. “It contained one female and three men – all related. Two of those men and one female have admitted their part in pleading guilty.”
Three members of the same family, who reside in Italy, have already admitted conspiracy to commit burglary. These include Giacomo Nikolov, 28, Jela Jovanovic, 43, and her son Charlie Jovanovic, 23.
A fourth family member, Valentino Nikolov, 32, from Birmingham, denies the charge and is representing himself at the trial with the assistance of an Italian interpreter.
The gang is believed to have entered the UK via ferry from Calais to Dover in March 2024, travelling in a Citroen C3 and a Ford motorhome. They initially headed to London before driving to the North East a few days later.
Prosecutors claim the group used the Citroen to travel to break-ins while using the motorhome as their sleeping quarters.
The court was told the same criminal gang had already conducted other high-value burglaries in the days before targeting Isak’s property. They had stolen jewellery and clothes worth more than £1 million from a Tyneside businesswoman and designer goods valued at £100,000 from a woman living in Wearside.
The raiders also took a safe from Isak’s home, though it had been left by the previous occupant and did not contain anything valuable.
Safet Ramic, the 58-year-old father of Valentino Nikolov’s former partner, from Winson Street, Birmingham, has also been charged but denies handling stolen goods.
