diff --git a/lib/mu-container.c b/lib/mu-container.c
index 73587c92..c2a676a3 100644
--- a/lib/mu-container.c
+++ b/lib/mu-container.c
@@ -200,8 +200,8 @@ mu_container_remove_child (MuContainer *c, MuContainer *child)
 	g_return_val_if_fail (c, NULL);
 	g_return_val_if_fail (child, NULL);
 
-	g_assert (!child->child);
-	g_return_val_if_fail (!child->child, NULL);
+	/* g_assert (!child->child); */
+	/* g_return_val_if_fail (!child->child, NULL); */
 	g_return_val_if_fail (c != child, NULL);
 
 	c->child = mu_container_remove_sibling (c->child, child);
diff --git a/lib/mu-threader.c b/lib/mu-threader.c
index 5efc962f..46660831 100644
--- a/lib/mu-threader.c
+++ b/lib/mu-threader.c
@@ -285,8 +285,18 @@ handle_references (GHashTable *id_table, MuContainer *c)
 
            /* optimization: if the the message was newly added, it's by
 	    * definition not reachable yet */
-	if (child_elligible (parent, c, created))
+
+	if (parent && c && !(c->child && mu_container_reachable (c->child, parent))) {
+
+		/* if c already has a parent, remove c from its parent children
+		   and reparent it, as now we know who is c's parent reliably */
+		if (c->parent) {
+			mu_container_remove_child(c->parent, c);
+			c->next = c->last = c->parent = NULL;
+		}
+
 		parent = mu_container_append_children (parent, c);
+	}
 }