Stanley Kennett Met Police: Officer Sacked After Running Coffee Business While on Full Pay

A Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed for gross misconduct after operating a commercial coffee business while receiving full pay. The case of stanley kennett met police sits alongside several recent dismissals connected to officers running businesses or misusing work time, prompting scrutiny of conduct and oversight.

Stanley Kennett Met Police: what the tribunal found

PC Stanley Kennett, 31, applied in April 2024 to register The Coffee Cycle as a business interest while suspended from duty, but the application was declined. Despite not appealing that decision, the misconduct hearing found he continued to engage in and operate the unauthorised business interest while receiving full pay, a finding that led to his dismissal for gross misconduct.

Details of The Coffee Cycle operation

The Coffee Cycle is based in a bike shop in Storrington, West Sussex, and serves coffee, cake and pastries and provides catering for events. The tribunal concluded the venture was more than volunteering: it was described as an expanding business that had been incorporated, involved a director's loan and the employment of staff, and benefited from active promotion on social media. The panel characterised the operation as sophisticated and found Kennett heavily involved at all points.

Disciplinary context and penalties

The ruling confirmed that by continuing to operate the business while on full pay the conduct amounted to gross misconduct. Kennett has been placed on the College of Policing’s barred list. In statements summarising the panel’s view, the handling officer noted that running a business while suspended on full pay undermines public expectations of policing and brings the force into disrepute. The tribunal also noted that the facts appeared to undermine any submission that Kennett lacked capacity to understand the significance of his actions.

Other misconduct cases highlighted at the same hearings

• Two officers were dismissed for running businesses while being paid within a week, creating a cluster of disciplinary rulings.
• Firearms Sergeant Matt Skelt was sacked last week after working and promoting a mobile pizza service while on long-term sick leave; that dismissal was for gross misconduct.
• A former detective constable, Sean Brierley, was the subject of a separate tribunal finding that he would have been dismissed if he had not already left the force after being found so intoxicated on duty that he could not walk straight.
• Additional recent disciplinary headlines included an officer who ran a pizza company while on sick leave being fired, a police officer sacked after assaulting a neighbour, and a Met constable disciplined for failing to disclose a firearms probe.

What the hearing revealed about the Sean Brierley case

At a linked tribunal, it was heard that the officer referred to as a former detective constable attended a bar on the evening of 2 July 2025 after being told a suspect at Leyton police station was not yet available for interview. Video footage showed him ordering three glasses of white wine over two hours. CCTV captured him appearing unsteady on his feet, staggering and off balance when he returned to the station later that evening. A custody sergeant said he smelt of alcohol and other staff reported his speech as slurred. The panel heard this testimony on 12 February.

Separate misconduct: use of a keyboard trick in a remote role

The wider set of findings also noted a separate case involving an officer referred to as Sergeant X from Avon and Somerset Police, who was barred from working in UK law enforcement after an internal review flagged unusually high keystroke counts during remote shifts. Investigators found that most shifts attributed to the officer had three to eight times the keystroke count of colleagues in similar roles. The officer admitted to placing the corner of a picture frame on a keyboard to prevent the laptop going into sleep mode during shifts and linked the conduct to challenges in her personal life.

What happens next

The disciplinary panels have imposed dismissals and barred listings in multiple cases; the rulings underline that running private businesses, promoting commercial interests while suspended, or misrepresenting work activity can trigger gross misconduct findings. Further procedural or appeal details were unclear in the provided context.