Jon Venables, one of he killers of two-year-old James Bulger, has been returned to custody for a breach of his parole.
Venables and his murdering accomplice Robert Thompson were granted release under licence on life sentences in June 2001 by former Home Secretary David Blunkett.
The order ruled the killers could be immediately returned to prison for an unlimited length of time, if either committed another crime, breached the terms of their licence, or were considered a threat to the public.
The terms of their release also barred them from entering the County of Merseyside, and from making contact with each other.
The Ministry of Justice confimed that Venables' had been returned to custody.
Venables was aged 10 when he and Thompson, also 10, abducted James from a shopping centre in Bootle. They marched him to a lonely railway line where they tortured and murdered him in February 1993.
The yongster's mutilated body was found on a railway line in nearby Walton two days later.
Venables became Britain's youngest convicted murderer when he was convicted at Preston Crown Court in November 1993, alongside Thompson.
Thompson and Venables were sentenced to life imprisonment but the "tariff" of eight years was first increased by the Home Secretary only to be later reduced by a judge.
Despite petitions and media campaigns claiming the sentence was too lenient, Venables and Thompson were released on parole from their life sentence in June 2001, and given new identities.
Following their trial, an injunction was imposed preventing their new identities and locations from being made public.
It is not clear whether his identity would be revealed if he appears before a court again.
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that Jon Venables has been recalled to custody following a breach of licence conditions.
"Offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions; if they breach those conditions they are subject to immediate recall.
"There is a worldwide injunction in place that prohibits any reporting including reporting on the internet, that could identify him or his location."
James Bulger's mother Denise Fergus declined to comment on the fact that Venables had breached his parole until she has more information.
A spokesman for Denise, 42, said: "A member of the Probation Service officially informed Denise, at short notice, that Jon Venables had been recalled to prison for breach of the terms of his parole.
"She was given no information about how or when the breach happened or what the next step will be in handling his case.
"But Denise has always said that she did not believe that it was safe to parole Venables and Thompson at the age of eighteen, before they had ever spent a day in an adult prison. She believes this breach of parole shows that she was right.
"The Probation Service has promised to keep Denise informed about progress in the case and has assured her that she was not in danger at any time. But she believes that she and the public have a right to know what Venables has done and what is to be done with him now he is an adult offender."
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