I have seen a guy eight times since September and every time i chase him by text he goes quiet and takes week and a half to get back to me and is all keen again.

It's a sign of a guy who is unsure, then in a few weeks time he kind of warms to the idea of having a woman around again.  It could be a case of he is unsure he fancies you, it could be a case of he is unsure he wants a serious relationship at the moment or even both.

He is 36 and has been badly hurt by an arranged marriage which ended in divorce 5 years ago (she took a lot of money off him).

Ah, yes that's always a big blow to a guy.  He spends all his life working hard to earn some money and his ex-woman takes it all off him.  It's not only that but it makes a guy feel kind of useless because to attract a new woman he needs a decent amount of money, as she has taken a sizeable sum off him he would be devastated.  Plus a guy will be very wary about finding another woman because if he's had a bad time with the last one and another one comes along and rips another load of money off him it's extremely frustrating.  

I sent him a text last night saying if you don't want to see me again just tell me and I got no reply.

If you know him very well you can get away with sending this sort of message.  If you don't know him that well that it will be seen that you are trying to push him too far, too soon, you are trying to ask his committment way before you should do.  As you have been seeing him since September I would say that is long enough to make that statement.  So if he was that bothered he would reply back straight away.

Do you think if I cut off all contact he will get back to me?

Not sure, because you have issued him with an ultimatum here.  He may see that ultimatum as the final warning and therefore he wouldn't get back to you because he would look silly and desperate contacting you in a few weeks.  Basically it will be a good test of whether he is interested in seeing you, but I have to say he is unsure already, so there's not much chance of him getting sure anytime soon.

I know he is just scared of being hurt again so should I just back off and let him come back to me?

Yes, you really need to give him some space.  You have given him your ultimatum and any further contact from you is going to make you at least look pushy and at most look like a stalker.

Do you think he will?

Not sure in this circumstance, it's a 50/50 chance, everything you explain to me shows that he is unsure about whether he wants to know you or be with you.  For that reason I don't really think you want to be with a guy that has any doubts about being with you.