A Metropolitan Police officer who ran a coffee business whilst suspended on full pay has been sacked.

Pc Stanley Kennett applied for a business interest called The Coffee Cycle whilst suspended from duty on 23rd April 2024 and was notified that it had been declined a week later, according to a tribunal ruling.

In September 2025, it was confirmed that the 31-year-old ‘continued to engage in and operate this unauthorised business interest’ whilst receiving full pay from the force, the ruling said.

Following a misconduct hearing on February 12, Mr Kennett was found to have breached police standards of professional behaviour amounting to gross misconduct and was dismissed without notice.

The Coffee Cycle is listed as having been incorporated on April 1 2025, with Mr Kennett listed as the director on Companies House.

The business, based in a bike shop in Storrington, West Sussex, serves coffee, cake and pastries and provides catering for events, according to its website and social media.

In the ruling, commander Andy Brittain said of the venture: ‘This was not simply a volunteering opportunity, this was a full-blown and expanding business supported by incorporation of that business, the granting of a director’s loan and employment of staff.

Met Police officer Pc Stanley Kennett pictured serving coffee despite being suspended on full pay

In September 2025, it was confirmed that the 31-year-old ‘continued to engage in and operate this unauthorised business interest’ whilst receiving full pay from the force, the ruling said

‘Pc Kennett is also noted to have been actively engaged on social media promoting that business.

‘This was a sophisticated operation, and Pc Kennett appears heavily involved at all points.

‘All of which appears to undermine the submission on his behalf that at relevant points he lacked capacity to understand the significance of the consequences of his actions.’

Mr Brittain said: ‘Running a business, whether for financial gain or not, whilst suspended on full pay, brings policing and the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) in particular into disrepute.

‘Members of the public would not expect serving police officers to act in this way.’

According to the ruling, Pc Kennett admitted his actions but accepted that they amounted to misconduct only.

The former officer, who had been suspended from duty on full pay since October 2023, was also placed on the College of Policing’s barred list.