No, we're fighting via our lawyer, but if it does end up in court, we will likely lose as contract law is pretty strong in the UK - and apparently this is a significant part of this recruiter's business model, so they're well practised at it and have test cases in which they've been victorious.
Why not send an email to them with a contract that nullifies the previous contract? I would love to hear a judge try to justify why one contract is enforceable for just receiving and email and another is not.
Have you signed an exclusive contract in ink? If not then coder is a shared resource. Though laws can be draconian and make you guilty even in event of actual innocence.