Ledbury'S MP, Peter Temple-Morris has offered his support and help to any Quintiles workers facing harassment from animal rights activists.

He said he had long been concerned about the demonstrations outside the laboratory, off the Bromyard Road, as well as "the unpleasant harassment of Quintiles employees".

In January, Quintiles director David Everett put his Ledbury home on the market following demonstrations outside his house.

The targeting of an employee was a form of protest which Ledbury Rector, the Rev Dr Colin Beevers, compared to the actions of the Nazis.

Mr Temple-Morris said he had heard of instances at the homes of individual employees which amounted to an unnecessary interference with their private lives.

He added: "All this has been most distressing for my constituents who work for Quintiles.

"It's clear that the police are doing whatever they can to help against a difficult background where, in a free society, people have the right to demonstrate and the boundary between demonstrating an harassment is a thin one.

"That said, I stand ready to help in any way that I can and remain open to any approaches about this from constituents or from Quintiles as a whole."

Mr Temple-Morris has written with his concerns to Guy Rutter, Divisional Commander of the Hereford Division of the West Mercia force.

Commander Rutter said: "We have attempted to ensure that, as far as possible, the regular protesters are mindful of a negotiated agreement as to where they may locate themselves and how they may protest. This is usually stuck to.

"Individual members of staff have, on occasions, received personal and domestic crime prevention advice with details of vulnerable addresses highlighted within our Divisional Control Room to ensure a correct response, should that be necessary.

"Whilst being the subject of a protest must be an unpleasant act, I do believe that our policy and actions to date have helped to minimise unlawful behaviour and certainly.

"We have not witnessed any large-scale violence, such has been seen at other similar establishments."

Quintiles declined to comment on the correspondence between the MP and the police chief.