Old Work Friend Messaging.

[Jesse19]

So someone i used to work with years ago recently messaged me out of the blue, we communicated for a week and did tentatively talk about meeting up but I started to get weird vibes so backed off a little. Ive recently come out of a relationship and have been enjoying my own company so the thought of this potentially being a date did freak me out so I politely messaged him to explain and let him down gently that I wasn't interested in meeting up. He then ended up getting angry saying I hated him and always have and he doesn't like me like that plus I'd done this before (I told him I was not single years ago when he messaged then) and i should just be honest. I deleted didnt reply because theres no point adding more fuel to the fire. Anyway he messaged again calling me rude etc. So i replied trying to again tell him why and be polite. Anyway I eventually got an apology and he explained things going on in his life (he'd had bad experiences with relationships, been stalked, had anxiety) so again I was nice, sympathised as ive had simular experiences but he still was constantly asking me if I wanted to talk as friends and kept repeating this. Alarm bells were ringing for me so in the end I told him no and blocked him. He did have one last word to insult me again, it was like everytime i told him no he went on the defence. I'm overthinking it now as I should have just said no and been blunt instead of trying to save someone's feelings. Did I handle this correctly?