Bulger killer reveals his identity as strain proves too much.

I felt terribly disappointed when I heard that Jon Venables, one of the killers of Jamie Bulger, had been taken back into custody. It appeared to undermine the entire case for rehabilitation which many of us feel is central to the judicial system.

We had days and days of rumour and counter rumour about what he was supposed to have done, but it is now being reported that the reason he may be back in captivity is that there was "an unacceptable risk to life and limb"should he remain in the open, but that the "unacceptable risk to life and limb" was to his own, as he kept telling people who he really was.

Government officials had become increasingly concerned at Venables "self-disclosing" the truth about who he was, and he is now being kept on a prison hospital wing. He has already told staff and inmates who he is and it is believed that officials have ruled out any plans to create a new identity for the 27-year-old while he is in his current mental state.

Obviously we know nothing really about why he is back in custody and this could be simply yet another rumour, but the fact that he might be in prison due to guilt eating at him whilst he is free gives some hope that the arguments for rehabilitation have not been dealt a dreadful blow.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation officers' union, said: "A disturbed child who kills, then spends eight years in a secure unit and then nine years having to pretend they're somebody else is bound to be deeply psychologically affected. It's not surprising that he may have revealed his true identity, given the enormity of what he's done and the difficulty of coming to terms with that and a new identity." Venables being recalled to prison is the "worst possible outcome" given the years spent trying to rehabilitate him, he added.

It is "the worst possible outcome" as so much was done to try to prevent this, but at least - should this prove to be correct - the reason he has failed was down to guilt rather than some inbuilt flaw in his nature which softy Liberals like myself refused to acknowledge.

The "lock them up and throw away the key" brigade looked as if they had an ace card to play, but it is increasingly looking as if this case is not as clear cut as it looked a few days ago.

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Tags: Jon Venables, Jamie Bulger, UK politics