Four to face trial charged with conspiracy to commit burglary after Whitburn home and Newcastle United star's mansion were raided

Four Croatian nationals charged with conspiracy to commit burglary after Newcastle United star Alexander Isak's mansion was broken into face trial later this year.

The three men and one woman are accused of taking cash and a vehicle from the detached home in Darras Hall, in a suburb of Newcastle, when it is believed the footballer was out.

The Swedish striker's car was taken during the raid but was found abandoned three miles away in the remote village of Dissington.

The group are also accused of breaking into to a home on Woodlands Grove in Whitburn, where designer clothes, jewellery and cash were stolen to the value of more than £100,000. All four appeared at Newcastle Crown Court today. They have the assistance of an Italian interpreter at the hearings.

Judge Paul Sloan KC said a trial, which could take ten days, will start on September 9, and all four were remanded in custody in the meantime.

Judge Sloan told them: "I am adjourning your cases for trial. I have fixed a trial date and that date is September 9 this year.

"There will be two pre-trial hearings before that date and they will be on July 9 and August 15.

"Those pre-trial hearings are to ensure everything that needs to be done has been done so that your cases are ready for trial in September."

The details of the allegation are that between the March 26, 2024, and April 5, 2024, they conspired together to enter dwellings as trespassers, namely at Clayton House, Jesmond, Newcastle, Woodlands Grove, Whitburn, and Middle Drive, Darras Hall, Newcastle.

Three men, Valentino Nikolov, 31, Giacomo Nikolov, 27, Charlie Jovanovic, 23, and the female, Jela Jovanvic, 42, all entered a not guilty plea to a single charge of conspiracy to commit burglary.

Judge Sloan said: "What is alleged is a conspiracy to burgle, that simply means an agreement to burgle houses, with the intention that the agreement would be carried out.

"It is alleged that the agreement was carried out in that three houses were burgled."