ACTORS' union Equity has been landed with a legal bill of nearly £640,000 after a Bradford singer was found to have lied during a key libel case.

Craig Joseph, a performer with three-piece Motown tribute band The Gillettes, has since become the first person in living memory to be expelled by the union due to his conduct during the action it had agreed to support.

Last night, a spokesman for Equity told the Telegraph & Argus said it could not discuss publicly what steps it was taking to recover its costs.

The dispute arose when booking agent Jason Spiller, of 1311 Events, posted libellous statements about the band on its website in 2007 and 2008.

The initial disagreement was over a re-booking clause in the agency agreement between the Gillettes and 1311 Events.

The band agreed to play at Bibis restaurant in Leeds within 12 months of its previous performance there without going through the agency.

The court hearing was told that had come about after Bibis had informed the band that after the breakdown in trust with 1311, it would no longer book acts through the agency.

In response, Mr Spiller published comments questioning the Gillettes' professionalism on his 1311 Events website.

These included him claiming that Mr Joseph "may sign a contract for your booking, but will not necessarily adhere to it".

The Gillettes started legal action against Mr Spiller for defamation and gained the support of Equity which had been told that the band had lost a booking due to Mr Spiller's comments in 2008.

At a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in October 2012, Mr Justice Tugendhat, the UK's senior media judge, held that The Gillettes had been defamed by Mr Spiller on the 1311 Events website.

But in his ruling the judge said Mr Joseph had made a "massive attempt to deceive the court" by falsely claiming in evidence that after the 2008 libel, the band had lost a booking when no such booking existed.

He then awarded the band nominal damages of one penny but also ordered it to pay 75 per cent of the agent's costs.

After years of wrangling by lawyers, Equity's legal bill from the case has now been settled at £639,045.

And the union's Council has subsequently voted to expel Mr Joseph from its ranks.

Announcing the decision, it stated: "A member, of Equity, Craig Joseph, has been expelled from the union following a High Court Judges' finding that he had lied to court during a case supported by Equity.

"The expulsion from Equity, which took immediate effect following the Council meeting, is the first in living memory."

The Equity spokesman said: "Equity cannot comment further on Mr Joseph's expulsion from the union beyond the statement already made and we cannot discuss publicly what steps the union might take to recoup costs in this case."

When contacted by the T&A, Craig Joseph yesterday denied that he had been expelled from Equity but refused to comment further and ended the call.

He did not respond to subsequent messages left by the T&A.

The Gillettes, made up of Mr Joseph, his brother Jason and Anthony Raymond, formed in 1994 and cover music by The Temptations, The Drifters and James Brown.

The band raises money for a number of charities through its concerts, including for the Marie Curie hospice in Bradford.

Craig and Jason Joseph founded the Shirley Dumican Memorial Fund in 2009 in memory of their mother who died at the hospice and hold an annual charity show for the charity.

So far the concerts have raised more than £17,000.