A travelling group of burglars stole jewelry worth £68,000 ($87,000), up to £10,000 in cash and an Audi car after breaking into a Premier League footballer’s home, a British court heard on Wednesday.
The burglary took place at the home of Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak in Northumberland county in northeast England last April while the 25-year-old Swedish international was out.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that the thieves had already stolen clothes and jewelry worth upwards of £1 million from a local businesswoman plus £100,000 worth of designer goods from another woman in the region in the preceding days.
Who are the burglars accused of breaking into Isak’s home?
Three members of the same family, Giacomo N., 28, his sister Jela J. 43, and her son Charlie J. 23, who all live in Italy, have admitted conspiracy to commit burglary.
A fourth family member, Valentino N., a 32-year-old who lives in the UK city of Birmingham, denies the charge.
“This was a professional group of traveling burglars,” said Dan Cordey, prosecuting.
He explained that footage of the break-in was recorded on a so-called “doggy cam” and showed the thieves conducting an “untidy search” in Isak’s living room.
As well as the cash and the jewelry, the gang also took a safe which had been left by the home’s previous occupant but did not contain anything valuable, Mr. Cordey added.
The court heard that the robbers arrived in the UK in Dover via a ferry from Calais, France, last march. They then drove to London and then onwards to the northeast in a Citroen which they used to travel to break-ins and a motorhome which they used as a mobile base to sleep, according to prosecutors.
Alexander Isak: Break-in in break-through season
Isak, whose car was later found abandoned, was born in Solna, Sweden, to Eritrean parents and came through the youth system at Stockholm club AIK.
After struggling to make an impact at Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, he made his breakthrough at Spanish side Real Sociedad, for whom he scored 44 goals in 132 games. Since joining Saudi Arabia-owned Newcastle United in 2022, he has already scored 57 goals in 98 games and will likely feature in the League Cup final against Liverpool on March 16.
Isak has also scored 15 goals in 50 appearances for Sweden.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic
