A member of a “professional group of travelling burglars” has been convicted after he broke into the home of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak and stole jewellery worth £68,000.
Valentino Nikolov, 32, also took the Swedish footballer’s sports car and up to £10,000 in cash when he carried out the raid with three members of his family in April 2024.
Isak, who scored during Newcastle’s victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final at the weekend, was not in the Northumberland home at the time.
Nikolov’s family members – brother Giacomo Nikolov, 28, sister Jela Jovanovic, 43, and her son Charlie Jovanovic, 23 – all admitted conspiracy to burglary.
However, Nikolov, from Birmingham, denied the charge and was found guilty on Tuesday following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.
His three family members, who all lived in Italy and travelled to the UK to carry out the burglary, will be sentenced at a later date.
Isak noticed bins were moved
Dan Cordey, prosecuting, told jurors how Isak left his home between 4pm and 10pm on 4 April and discovered the break-in when he returned and saw his bins had been moved.
The gang smashed a glass door to enter the property before entering the TV room and carrying out an “untidy search”, Mr Cordey said.
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.
The 25-year-old striker added that bespoke men’s jewellery from Frost of London worth about £68,000 – made up of bracelets, necklaces and rings – was taken, along with his Audi RS6 estate car.
A member of the public later found the car abandoned and called the police, the jury heard.
The gang also took a safe which had been left by the home’s previous tenant and 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.
Images of raid on ‘doggy cam’
CCTV images of the break-in were recorded on what Mr Cordey described as a “doggy cam”.
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.”
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Gang used Citroen and Ford motorhome
The thieves had already stolen jewellery and clothes worth more than £1m and the CBE medal belonging to Tyneside businesswoman Helen McArdle, as well as designer goods worth £100,000 from a woman in Whitburn, Sunderland, in the days before breaking into Isak’s home.
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.
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The gang used the Citroen to travel to break-ins and the motorhome was a base where they slept.
Nikolov represented himself and used an Italian interpreter during his trial.
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.
