ON a quiet Sunday afternoon Steve Stannard popped out of his Norwich city centre flat to get a McDonald's meal.

Upon returning to his home he was brutally stabbed to death, leaving a trail of blood that would lead the detectives probing his murder all the way back to London.

As a result of London crime gangs moving out to the countryside, horrific increases in knife crime have been seen

His death is just one example of the vicious criminality that has plagued the capital seeping into the English countryside not normally used to dealing with horrific violence as a result of organised gangs.

The shocking violence, police say, is fuelled by London-based drug gangs who are tired of how competitive "business" is on their usual patch.

This has driven them to seek aggressive expansion of their drug empires beyond the London boroughs, even including the serene and picturesque country of Norfolk which has seen a 274% increase in knife crime since 2014 as a result.

Common among London drug dealers seeking to expand their illicit business is the tactic of "cuckooing", which sees drug dealers take over the home of a vulnerable person and use it as their base for dealing.

10 Hassiem Baqir, 20, of the London gang The Pat and Mikey Group, murdered Steve Stannard after coming from London and 'cuckooing' him

The tactic gets its name from the practice of cuckoos taking over the nest of other birds for their young.

Cops say that on average a London dealer cuckooing a local in the home counties and further afield brings in between £3,000 and £5,000 a week - making £208,000 a year on average.

Mr Stannard, 37, was one such victim of cuckooing, with Hassiem Baqir, 20, of the London gang The Pat and Mikey Group, feeding his drug addiction in exchange for the use of his home in Norwich as a base.

However when he fell out with Baqir, of Thornton Heath in Croydon, South London, in November 2016, the drug boss turned on him and stabbed him in the back.

10 Vulnerable Steve Stannard, 37, had his home taken over by drug gangs. One pal told us: 'He didn’t really have a say in the matter' and within weeks he was killed

Baqir even stabbed Mr Stannard's dog Trixie, who thankfully survived the incident.

A close friend of Mr Stannard told The Sun Online: "Steve was nice. He would do anything to help anybody out. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.

"It all went wrong for him when invited the drug gang into his flat. It’s never a great idea to do that and they took advantage of him.

"He would get drugs off them and they would use his flat as a base. He didn’t really have a say in the matter."

LONDON CRIME COMES TO THE COUNTRYSIDE: Shocking statistics show how capital city drug gangs are setting up elsewhere and bringing shocking violence with them LONDON gang members describe being sent beyond the capital to sell drugs as 'going country' - and government statistics show they're doing it more and more. With drug dealing comes violence - and Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Thames Valley and North Wales have seen major increases in knife crime since 2014. Knife crime in London is up 20% in the period between 2014 to 2017, however the increase in the countryside has been far more dramatic. Warwickshire saw a 180% increase

In Hertfordshire there has been a 150% increase, with 229 incidents in 2014 increasing to 573 in 2017

North Wales has seen a 134% increase

Hampshire has seen a 102% increase in knife crime

Bedfordshire an 86% rise

Essex has also seen an 86% inrease

Cambridgeshire has seen an 83% increase during this period

Thames Valley is up 50%

However the most dramatic increase is in Norfolk, where knife crime has increased a stunning 274% Commenting on the figures at the time, Vince O'Brien, who heads tackling drugs at the National Crime Agency, said: "There is an increasing level of violence coming from city gangs establishing themselves in new drugs markets in rural areas. "Counties which surround London are being affected." Source: Office for National Statistics

10 A close friend of Mr Stannard told The Sun Online: 'Steve was nice. He would do anything to help anybody out. He wouldn’t hurt a fly'. He is seen here with his dog Trixie, who was also stabbed in the shocking attack

10 Cops in Norfolk have shown us the shocking types of weapons found on raids around the county

10 Officers have seized large amounts of drugs and cash in these raids as part of Operation Gravity. This picture shows drugs retrieved by officers inside a 'cuckooed' flat

The friend said that the London drug gang were sending up different crews to run the flat for months.

But when Baqir arrived it was only a matter of days before there was a dispute which had fatal consequences.

"The guy who murdered him had only been there a few days," the friend said.

"I was told that some drugs had gone missing and Steve had to pay for them.

10 A sign on a woman's door reads: 'Do not knock on window. No visits'. Police say the woman, like Mr Stannard, was being 'cuckooed' by a London drug gang

"He didn’t have the money so he couldn’t pay. The dealer then had to make a point by killing him.

"He stabbed him in the back. He couldn’t even look him in the face when he did it."

A former neighbour of Mr Stannard's added: "What happened to him was just awful.

"There was nothing that anybody could do to save him. Steve was a tall and friendly guy. I never had any issues with him."

It was a murder that shocked locals and, as a result, officers of Norfolk Constabulary in December 2016 launched Operation Gravity, designed to tackle county lines crime.

And 18 months in, officers have made a stunning 640 arrests and counting - identifying 35 county lines of criminality in the process.

Following another recent raid on a cuckooing incident, cops showed us a picture which was placed on a woman's door and read: "Do not knock on window. No visits."

JAILED: Drug thug who dealt Class A substances in Norfolk from London gets eight years behind bars A key player in feeding London drug gang business through to Norfolk was jailed for eight years earlier this week. John Abodunrin, 25 of Barnfield Gardens in London, was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on Monday after being convicted of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. The court heard how Abodunrin managed three key mobile phone lines linked to drug dealing groups in London. The phones were used to sell drugs to users in the Norwich and Great Yarmouth areas and between July 2017 and March 2018 all three phone lines had sent and received a total of 143,075 messages or calls. Following an investigation by Norfolk Constabulary’s Tactical Unit, Abodunrin was arrested at Norwich bus station on Thursday, March 22. Officers arrested him as he arrived in the city on a bus from London and found him in possession of a number of mobile phones, 36 wraps of cocaine and sim cards. Abodunrin was sentenced to eight years in prison at Norwich Crown Court today. Detective Inspector Tom Smith said: "Abodunrin’s arrest was the culmination in months of intelligence and evidence gathering by officers under Operation Gravity. When you look at the number of texts and calls being made on these phones it reflects the size and scale of some of these drug dealing networks. "Today’s sentence means we have been able to disrupt a significant part of this activity. It sends a clear message that Norfolk Police are robustly dealing with criminals like Abodunrin whilst helping to safeguard and protect those vulnerable members of our community who are exploited by Class A drug dealers.”

Cops say this is a typical way in which vulnerable locals are pressured and then isolated as dealers seek to set up business in a new area.

During such raids, large amounts of drugs and large knives have been seized - as well as thousands of pounds in cash.

Paul Sanford, Assistant Chief Constable of Norfolk Police, told The Sun Online that it was in the Autumn of 2016 that cops had begun to see a dramatic rise in violent crime not usually associated with the area.

And it was the murder of Mr Stannard which acted as the "catalyst" for Operation Gravity.

He said: "Norfolk is more accessible than ever due to developments in transport, mainly thanks to improvements in the roads or rail services.

"So what gangs have attempted to do is to come to our county and carry out a 'hostile takeover' where much like a traditional business they think they can muscle out the competition and make it their own.

"This kind of criminality perhaps effects a small section of society, and your average resident may not see any difference.

"But it's there and these people prey on the vulnerable and the young, so that's why we have made it our number one priority."

10 Paul Sanford, Assistant Chief Constable of Norfolk Police, told The Sun Online that it was in the Autumn of 2016 that cops had begun to see a dramatic rise in violent crime not usually associated with the area

10 A large quantity of Class A drugs is seized by Norfolk Constabulary. Officers have told The Sun Online that they believe dealers make between £3,000 and £5,000 a week

And it's not just the city of Norwich which drug dealers are targeting in Norfolk.

Mr Sanford told how one drug dealer his officers arrested was operating in Gorleston, a small community in the south of Great Yarmouth.

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10 London drug crooks, from top left: Ashley Papper, Dilen Baran, Yasmina Ghanname and Aldenir Pinto

The crook told the cops that he came there because he thought Operation Gravity only operated in Norwich.

Mr Sanford added: "It shows they are aware of our proactive policing, and even our operation by name, and that we have made this a high-risk area to come and commit crime."

Operation Gravity has seen dozens of crooks put behind bars, including a gang who supplied heroin and crack cocaine to users in Great Yarmouth through another cuckooing operation.

Aldenir Pinto, Yasmina Ghanname, Ashley Papper and Dilen Baran - all from London - were jailed for a total of 16 years and 4 months last year.

SIGNS TO SPOT 'CUCKOOING': How you can spot if a friend, family member or neighbour could be in trouble COPS in Northamptonshire have also been taking active steps to tackle 'cuckooing', saying that it can happen to anyone. Detective Inspector Dave Harley, from Northamptonshire Police, said: “Gangs travelling to Northamptonshire from other parts of the UK need to establish a base to help develop a local market. “It is now becoming common for these gangs to locate and take over addresses of vulnerable adults by force or coercion. Often a person is supplied with drugs to initiate the relationship but others such as people with mental health difficulties can also be targeted. “Very quickly the gang will establish control, taking over the person’s home and use it as a base for dealing drugs. In some cases the gang will take over a number of properties and move between them, or use a property for a couple of days before moving on to evade detection.” The ways to spot if a friend, family member or neighbour are being targetted in this way include: An increase of visitors to a property

More rubbish and litter in the surrounding area

Noise nuisance

A series of disturbances at the property

An increase in anti-social behaviour

The tenant is seen less often and in some cases is never seen alone Dave Pickard, Northampton Partnership Homes’ executive director of operations added: "We have a dedicated team to help and support our tenants with any type of anti-social behaviour and would urge anyone who is worried for themselves or a neighbour to get in touch. "We understand that asking for help can be scary, which is why we always take individual needs into account before we take action."