Request deletion of shared business information

[Custombike]

I have been working with a freelancer to successfully create order automation for my business, this freelancer has been sent data and sensitive information about our business including order information, emails outlining our processes and plans/ideas on how we want to resolve them.

He now sees value in this intends to create his own version of what we paid for him to create to offer to the world, this has really upset us as this was 2 years of development which we paid him for, so I have cut ties and revoked access to shared folders and accounts. What I would like to do is to get him to delete all data I shared with him, and emails we sent to him, is this possible without a pre-binding agreement? I know this is possible if you share personal information with a business, but I didn’t know if this extended to business data shared to another business?

We are UK based. We have agreements in place saying any code written for us is our ip. But I don’t want him to continue to use our data shared in good faith to aid him to create the new software, which I will of course look into lawsuits against in the future if needs be - for now I just want to know if I can legally request all shared data and emails be deleted please?

Thanks everyone for your support.

[atticus]

You may.make that request.

Did you not put an NDA or confidentiality agreement in place before parting with your valuable business information?

Do you have any kind of contract with this contractor?