Huntingdon animal lab 'treated like a pariah'

Brian Cass, chief of Huntingdon Life Sciences, said institutions such as banks would not touch his company, even though the campaign against it appears to have subsided and some of the perpetrators had been caught.

Mr Cass revealed that the firm has set up its own delivery service, security system, catering arm and even a laundry because outside suppliers have been intimidated by the threat of violence.

Mr Cass said: "There is still a perception in the financial community that we are radioactive.

"We don't have any special difficulties and it is mostly business as usual for us, but the message of success still has not reached the hierarchy."

Mr Cass spoke as hope grew that the wave of violent protest directed at Huntingdon and those associated with it because of its animal testing was waning.

A number of individuals are due to appear in court this week charged with conspiracy to blackmail following a longrunning police investigation into campaigns against the firm's suppliers.

Mr Cass, 60, was battered with a pickaxe handle outside his home six years ago.

Methods used by extremists against Huntingdon and its suppliers included office invasions, vandalism, arson attacks and bomb hoaxes.

In one year - 2004 - more than 100 suppliers are thought to have withdrawn from work with animal testing firms because of threats.

Huntingdon says intimidation by activistsis at an end because of High Court injunctions against leading figures.

However, the company cannot find a bank to handle its accounts.

It makes payments on Bank of England cheques signed by officials at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

It has also relied on Whitehall to provide it with insurance cover and to give it an exemption from usual company auditing rules because no accountant can be found to take its business.

Leading police officers now believe at least half the violent animal rights activists in the country are in jail and as few as two dozen extremists prepared to risk going to prison are still operating.

A key success was the jailing of four fanatics who harassed the owners of a guinea pig farm.

They dug up the grave of Gladys Hammond, a relative of the family who ran the Darley Oaks farm in Staffordshire.