Deloitte made the decision public late Friday afternoon that it would part company with the controversial drug testing labs following more than a week of high profile protests by SHAC and other action by sympathetic groups.

John Connolly, Deloitte & Touche's senior partner said: 'Having completed the audit for 2002, we will not be offering ourselves for re-election as auditors to Huntingdon Life Sciences.'

But Greg Avery, SHAC co-ordinator, said that the climb down was not enough to stop the protests. 'If the latest annual report comes out of HLS with Deloitte's name on it (as auditor) then we will still consider them to be the company's auditors,' he said.