French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was arrested and taken to prison yesterday to begin a three-year jail sentence, immediately after stepping back on to French soil after a high-profile march through Italy.

The 37-year-old former banker, who ran up €4.9-billion in losses at Société Générale in 2008, was detained in the French border town of Menton at midnight. He had been given a midnight deadline to return to France and present himself to a local police station.

After spending the night in an office at the station, he was taken to a prison in Nice early yesterday.

His imprisonment ended days of suspense over whether the Brittany native, who began a long walk home after meeting Pope Francis in Rome in February, would surrender to police.

On Sunday afternoon, Kerviel threatened to stay in Italy and appealed to France’s president to intervene in his case. – (Reuters)