A member of a “skilled staff of travelling burglars” has been convicted after he broke into the house of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak and stole jewelry value £68,000.
Valentino Nikolov, 32, additionally took the Swedish footballer’s sports activities automobile and as much as £10,000 in money when he performed the raid with 3 contributors of his circle of relatives in April 2024.
Isak, who scored all through Newcastle’s victory over Liverpool within the Carabao Cup ultimate on the weekend, was once now not within the Northumberland house on the time.
Symbol: Valentino Nikolov. Pic: Durham Constabulary
Nikolov’s members of the family – brother Giacomo Nikolov, 28, sister Jela Jovanovic, 43, and her son Charlie Jovanovic, 23 – all admitted conspiracy to housebreaking.
Alternatively, Nikolov, from Birmingham, denied the price and was once discovered responsible on Tuesday following an ordeal at Newcastle Crown Court docket.
His 3 members of the family, who all lived in Italy and travelled to the United Kingdom to hold out the housebreaking, can be sentenced at a later date.
Isak spotted containers had been moved
Dan Cordey, prosecuting, informed jurors how Isak left his house between 4pm and 10pm on 4 April and came upon the break-in when he returned and noticed his containers have been moved.
The crowd smashed a pitcher door to go into the valuables sooner than coming into the TV room and wearing out an “untidy seek”, Mr Cordey mentioned.
Symbol: Giacomo Nikolov. Pic: Durham Constabulary
Isak informed detectives that he saved money in baggage upstairs, made up of notes of various denominations in addition to cash, and the quantity taken was once between £5,000 and £10,000.
The 25-year-old striker added that bespoke males’s jewelry from Frost of London value about £68,000 – made up of bracelets, necklaces and rings – was once taken, at the side of his Audi RS6 property automobile.
Symbol: Jela Jovanovic. Pic: Durham Constabulary
A member of the general public later discovered the automobile deserted and known as the police, the jury heard.
The crowd additionally took a secure which have been left via the house’s earlier tenant and didn’t comprise the rest treasured, Mr Cordey mentioned.
Isak informed police he had by no means used the secure and he had now not been ready to open it.
Symbol: Charlie Jovanovic. Pic: Durham Constabulary
Pictures of raid on ‘pup cam’
CCTV photographs of the break-in had been recorded on what Mr Cordey described as a “pup cam”.
The prosecution mentioned: “This was once a certified staff of travelling burglars.
“It contained one feminine and 3 males – all comparable.
“Two of the ones males and one feminine have admitted their phase in pleading responsible.”
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Symbol: Isak with the trophy after Newcastle’s Carabao Cup victory over Liverpool on Sunday. Pic: PA
Gang used Citroen and Ford motorhome
The thieves had already stolen jewelry and garments value greater than £1m and the CBE medal belonging to Tyneside businesswoman Helen McArdle, in addition to clothier items value £100,000 from a lady in Whitburn, Sunderland, within the days sooner than breaking into Isak’s house.
The crowd arrived in the United Kingdom by the use of a ferry from Calais to Dover in a Citroen C3 and a Ford motorhome closing March.
They headed to London then drove to the North East a couple of days later, the court docket has heard.
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The crowd used the Citroen to trip to break-ins and the motorhome was once a base the place they slept.
Nikolov represented himself and used an Italian interpreter all through his trial.
Safet Ramic, who’s the 58-year-old father of Valentino Nikolov’s former spouse, and who’s from Winson Side road, Birmingham, was once cleared of a unmarried price of dealing with stolen items.
