The claimant is Christoper Lunn, a former ICAEW chartered accountant, who was forced to stop practicing and sell his Sussex accountancy firm, Christopher Lunn & Co, following a prosecution for £6m in tax evasion. In January 2016, following a prolonged HMRC tax investigation, Lunn was sentenced to a five-year jail term.

The case at the County Court was brought by Lunn against HMRC for damages with the primary grounds a claim for damages for injury due to the proceedings and conduct of HMRC.

He also made a claim for an overpayment of VAT for £3,028.40 and a subsequent claim for interest on the overpayment for work conducted in the run-up to his trial in 2015.

Lunn, who represented himself, told the Court that he was making various claims for injury, VAT credits that were due for correctly invoiced work, related compensatory payments as well as interest under the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA 1994) from 2013 to the date of trial, and interest under the County Courts Act 1984 (CCA 1984) from the date of his trial to conclusion of the settlement agreement with HMRC in 2020.