With its clean, aspirational white-on-black branding, the sign outside The Coffee Cycle evokes thoughtful foam and early mornings. It is located in a bike shop in Storrington, West Sussex, where there is a subtle scent of chain oil and espresso in the air.
Customers waited months for pastries and flat whites from a company that was established on April 1, 2025, and whose director was a Metropolitan Police constable. Stanley Kennett was that police officer.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Stanley Kennett |
| Age | 31 |
| Employer | Metropolitan Police Service (Met Police) |
| Role | Police Constable (PC) |
| Suspension Start | October 2023 (on full pay) |
| Business Name | The Coffee Cycle |
| Business Location | Storrington, West Sussex |
| Business Application Date | 23 April 2024 |
| Application Outcome | Formally declined one week later |
| Incorporation Date | 1 April 2025 (listed as director on Companies House) |
| Finding | Gross misconduct |
| Hearing Date | 12 February 2026 |
| Outcome | Dismissed without notice |
| Additional Action | Placed on College of Policing barred list |
| Reported By | BBC News, Evening Standard, ITV News |
Since October 2023, he had been off duty on full pay. He applied to register The Coffee Cycle as a business interest in April 2024 while he was suspended. A week later, the request was officially denied. He nevertheless carried on running the business, according to a misconduct tribunal.
On February 12, the hearing came to the conclusion that this was gross misconduct. He was placed on the College of Policing’s barred list and fired without cause.
The optics are the source of the discomfort, despite the stark facts. There is a purpose for paid suspension in law enforcement. It safeguards due process and makes sure the officers being investigated don’t lose their money before conclusions are reached. Public patience is the price to be paid.
That patience is put to the test while running what one commander called a “full-blown and expanding business” and getting paid in full.
The tribunal emphasized that it was not a silent volunteer shift in a café. A director’s loan had been approved, employees had been hired, and the company had been incorporated. Using polished photos of croissants and branded cups, social media accounts advertised catering for events.
Reading that description gave me a brief feeling of unease.
However, there is a counterargument that merits discussion. Suspension may last for several months or even years. Officers are still in limbo, their reputations damaged but not yet cleared. Some contend that it is excessively harsh to forbid meaningful employment during that time, particularly if no criminal conviction has been obtained.
Although Kennett acknowledged what he had done, he insisted that it was misconduct rather than egregious misconduct. The panel rejected his defense, which at times implied he was incapable of understanding the ramifications of his choices.
Neither the coffee maker nor the incorporation documents was the pivotal moment. It was the rejection. It became a conscious violation to continue the business after authorization was denied in April 2024.
He submitted the application for business interest on April 23, 2024.
Currently, that date reads like a hinge.
In recent years, the Metropolitan Police Service has been under constant scrutiny due to high-profile misconduct cases and cultural shortcomings. In light of this, even relatively insignificant violations acquire greater significance. The public gauges symbolism in addition to severity.
Expectations of propriety and restraint clash with a constable on full pay operating a business, regardless of how healthy the product is.
I’m hesitant to characterize it as mere greed, though. The Coffee Cycle conveys ambition and possibly a unique identity through its meticulous branding and event catering. Many officers develop side goals that conflict with strict regulations, such as being creative or entrepreneurial.
The ambitions of officers are not the issue. The reason for this is that public consent is the foundation of policing, and consent is undermined when standards seem selectively flexible.
A local customer told a reporter that the coffee was “properly good” one afternoon. It’s a persistent detail. It wasn’t just a paper side gig; the business was real and operating.
But the pay was, too.
The same week, another Met officer was fired by a different tribunal for unrelated misconduct. Each story is given more weight by the clustering of cases, which supports the idea that internal discipline is having difficulty keeping up with behavior.
Policing standards encompass more than just preventing crime. They concern perception, specifically whether officers seem to adhere to the same rules they enforce.
Kennett’s termination might be simple from a legal standpoint. It’s less clean ethically. Strict guidelines on outside work are in place to preserve trust, and paid suspension is in place to preserve equity. Someone will claim the balance has swung too far when those two principles clash. The tribunal determined that it had in this instance.