Kids dad is verbally and emotionally abusive

So my kids dad has all of a sudden started to be very emotionally and verbally abusive to myself and my children (8,3 and 2) normallyi wouldnt stop my kids dads from seeing.them my 8 year old isnt even his and a few days ago it went as far as him shouting and. Screaming at him over him picking up a hot dog and eating it i.have no.idea what crawled up his a** that day but i honestly could.have ended him, he was shouting at my son telling him hes a problem child (hes not) swearing at him all sorts telling him to fu*k off to his dads live there threatening boarding school then went as far as telling him to eat healthy because you're fuc*ing fat! Now this comment was what i could have ended him with because he knows s a child i was called fat and i stopped eating for years because of it yet i wasnt fat looking back at pictures my son also isnt fat, he ignores my child when he talks to him and when he does answer hes horrible about it, he was cerbally abusing me and my parenting saying hes had 5 kids raised them all and none of them are as bad as hum baring in mind one.he only saw on the weekend, another he wasnt allowed in his life until he turned 13 even then doesnt want to know him and his other 13 year old hates him and refuses to talk to him or even be around him has blocked him on everything.. i stood up for my child and you would as a parent and told him to get out then i comforted my son and told him hes not fat and not a problem child at all ect, now today he decided its our 3 year olds turn he smacks him and the 2 year old told the three year old he was a dickhead like his brother ect now again i refuse to not let my kids see there dad but at this point im wondering if i went to court for it can i stop contact until he controls his anger because god forbid he says anything like that to my kids or anything again or calls my daughter or 2 boys fat again and they stop eating or self harms or even worse i will hate myself for not being able to protect them out of my care when they see him, hes verbally and emotionally abusive to me too but i can stand up for myself but to my kids its a whole different story sorry its long and thank you if you got this far.