Sussex-Based Coffee Business At Centre Of Metropolitan Police Misconduct Case

A Metropolitan Police officer has been dismissed for gross misconduct after operating a business in West Sussex while receiving full pay from the force.

PC Stanley Kennett, 31, applied in April 2024 for permission to run The Coffee Cycle, a café venture based within a bike shop in Storrington, West Sussex.

Although the application was declined, a misconduct hearing was told he continued to run the unauthorised business.

The Coffee Cycle serves coffee, cakes and pastries and also provides catering for events, according to its website and social media channels.

A tribunal heard that by September 2025, PC Kennett had continued to engage in and operate the business despite not having approval, while still receiving his full police salary.

Commander Andy Brittain told the hearing the venture was “not simply a volunteering opportunity” but a growing commercial enterprise.

He said the business had been incorporated, supported by a director’s loan and employed staff, with PC Kennett actively promoting it on social media.

He described it as a “sophisticated operation” in which the officer appeared to be heavily involved.

In a separate misconduct hearing held the same day, former Detective Constable Sean Brierley was found to have committed gross misconduct and would have been dismissed had he not already left the force.

The panel heard that on 2 July 2025, Mr Brierley went to the Gravity Well Taproom in east London after being informed that a suspect at Leyton police station was not yet ready to be interviewed.

CCTV footage shown to the hearing captured him ordering three glasses of white wine over a two-hour period.

When he later returned to the police station, he was described as unsteady on his feet, staggering and off balance.

A custody sergeant told the panel he smelt of alcohol, while colleagues reported his speech was slurred.

Panel chair Commander Katie Lilburn said the officer had been “so intoxicated that he could not walk straight”, rendering him unfit to deal with a prisoner in custody.

The hearing was also told that colleagues were sufficiently concerned about his condition to arrange a welfare check at his home later that night.

Officers who attended found him lying on his bed appearing disoriented.

The cases follow the recent dismissal of another Metropolitan Police officer, firearms sergeant Matt Skelt, who was sacked after running and promoting a mobile pizza business while on long-term sick leave.