diff --git a/lib/mu-container.c b/lib/mu-container.c
index f0743ac5..7722b64a 100644
--- a/lib/mu-container.c
+++ b/lib/mu-container.c
@@ -290,8 +290,6 @@ mu_container_splice_grandchildren (MuContainer *parent, MuContainer *child)
 	newchild = child->child;
 	child->child=NULL;
 
-	mu_container_remove_child (parent, child);
-
 	return mu_container_append_children (parent, newchild);
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/mu-container.h b/lib/mu-container.h
index 6cd76889..5bc268b9 100644
--- a/lib/mu-container.h
+++ b/lib/mu-container.h
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ MuContainer* mu_container_splice_children (MuContainer *c,
                                            MuContainer *sibling);
 
 /**
- * promote child's children to be parent's children and remove child
+ * promote child's children to be parent's children
  *
  * @param parent a container instance
  * @param child a child of this container
diff --git a/lib/mu-threader.c b/lib/mu-threader.c
index 1bb4c0f5..d32bbe7a 100644
--- a/lib/mu-threader.c
+++ b/lib/mu-threader.c
@@ -385,10 +385,12 @@ prune_maybe (MuContainer *c)
 	MuContainer *cur;
 
 	for (cur = c->child; cur; cur = cur->next) {
-		if (cur->flags & MU_CONTAINER_FLAG_DELETE)
+		if (cur->flags & MU_CONTAINER_FLAG_DELETE) {
 			c = mu_container_remove_child (c, cur);
-		else if (cur->flags & MU_CONTAINER_FLAG_SPLICE)
+		} else if (cur->flags & MU_CONTAINER_FLAG_SPLICE) {
 			c = mu_container_splice_grandchildren (c, cur);
+			c = mu_container_remove_child (c, cur);
+		}
 	}
 
 	g_return_val_if_fail (c, FALSE);