diff --git a/include/api.php b/include/api.php
index 21db40433..d4007564f 100644
--- a/include/api.php
+++ b/include/api.php
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use Friendica\Model\Group;
 use Friendica\Model\Mail;
 use Friendica\Model\Photo;
 use Friendica\Model\User;
+use Friendica\Model\Item;
 use Friendica\Network\FKOAuth1;
 use Friendica\Network\HTTPException;
 use Friendica\Network\HTTPException\BadRequestException;
@@ -2214,7 +2215,7 @@ function api_statuses_destroy($type)
 
 	$ret = api_statuses_show($type);
 
-	drop_item($id, false);
+	Item::delete($id);
 
 	return $ret;
 }
@@ -3987,7 +3988,7 @@ function api_fr_photoalbum_delete($type)
 		if (!DBM::is_result($photo_item)) {
 			throw new InternalServerErrorException("problem with deleting items occured");
 		}
-		drop_item($photo_item[0]['id'], false);
+		Item::delete($photo_item[0]['id']);
 	}
 
 	// now let's delete all photos from the album
@@ -4290,7 +4291,7 @@ function api_fr_photo_delete($type)
 		}
 		// function for setting the items to "deleted = 1" which ensures that comments, likes etc. are not shown anymore
 		// to the user and the contacts of the users (drop_items() do all the necessary magic to avoid orphans in database and federate deletion)
-		drop_item($photo_item[0]['id'], false);
+		Item::delete($photo_item[0]['id']);
 
 		$answer = ['result' => 'deleted', 'message' => 'photo with id `' . $photo_id . '` has been deleted from server.'];
 		return api_format_data("photo_delete", $type, ['$result' => $answer]);
diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index cbd3883db..6f93f78b3 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -1980,7 +1980,7 @@ function item_getfeedtags($item) {
 
 function item_expire($uid, $days, $network = "", $force = false) {
 
-	if ((! $uid) || ($days < 1)) {
+	if (!$uid || ($days < 1)) {
 		return;
 	}
 
@@ -1989,7 +1989,7 @@ function item_expire($uid, $days, $network = "", $force = false) {
 	 * and just expire conversations started by others
 	 */
 	$expire_network_only = PConfig::get($uid,'expire', 'network_only');
-	$sql_extra = ((intval($expire_network_only)) ? " AND wall = 0 " : "");
+	$sql_extra = (intval($expire_network_only) ? " AND wall = 0 " : "");
 
 	if ($network != "") {
 		$sql_extra .= sprintf(" AND network = '%s' ", dbesc($network));
@@ -2013,7 +2013,7 @@ function item_expire($uid, $days, $network = "", $force = false) {
 		intval($days)
 	);
 
-	if (! DBM::is_result($r)) {
+	if (!DBM::is_result($r)) {
 		return;
 	}
 
@@ -2050,37 +2050,28 @@ function item_expire($uid, $days, $network = "", $force = false) {
 			continue;
 		}
 
-		drop_item($item['id'], false);
+		Item::delete($item['id'], PRIORITY_LOW);
 	}
-
-	Worker::add(['priority' => PRIORITY_LOW, 'dont_fork' => true], "Notifier", "expire", $uid);
 }
 
 /// @TODO type-hint is array
 function drop_items($items) {
 	$uid = 0;
 
-	if (! local_user() && ! remote_user()) {
+	if (!local_user() && !remote_user()) {
 		return;
 	}
 
 	if (count($items)) {
 		foreach ($items as $item) {
-			$owner = drop_item($item,false);
+			$owner = Item::delete($item);
 			if ($owner && ! $uid)
 				$uid = $owner;
 		}
 	}
-
-	// multiple threads may have been deleted, send an expire notification
-
-	if ($uid) {
-		Worker::add(['priority' => PRIORITY_LOW, 'dont_fork' => true], "Notifier", "expire", $uid);
-	}
 }
 
-
-function drop_item($id, $interactive = true) {
+function drop_item($id) {
 
 	$a = get_app();
 
@@ -2090,11 +2081,8 @@ function drop_item($id, $interactive = true) {
 		intval($id)
 	);
 
-	if (! DBM::is_result($r)) {
-		if (! $interactive) {
-			return 0;
-		}
-		notice( t('Item not found.') . EOL);
+	if (!DBM::is_result($r)) {
+		notice(t('Item not found.') . EOL);
 		goaway(System::baseUrl() . '/' . $_SESSION['return_url']);
 	}
 
@@ -2104,8 +2092,6 @@ function drop_item($id, $interactive = true) {
 		return 0;
 	}
 
-	$owner = $item['uid'];
-
 	$contact_id = 0;
 
 	// check if logged in user is either the author or owner of this item
@@ -2119,8 +2105,7 @@ function drop_item($id, $interactive = true) {
 		}
 	}
 
-
-	if ((local_user() == $item['uid']) || $contact_id || !$interactive) {
+	if ((local_user() == $item['uid']) || $contact_id) {
 
 		// Check if we should do HTML-based delete confirmation
 		if ($_REQUEST['confirm']) {
@@ -2150,126 +2135,16 @@ function drop_item($id, $interactive = true) {
 			goaway(System::baseUrl() . '/' . $_SESSION['return_url']);
 		}
 
-		logger('delete item: ' . $item['id'], LOGGER_DEBUG);
-
 		// delete the item
-		dba::update('item', ['deleted' => true, 'title' => '', 'body' => '',
-					'edited' => datetime_convert(), 'changed' => datetime_convert()],
-				['id' => $item['id']]);
+		Item::delete($item['id']);
 
-		create_tags_from_item($item['id']);
-		Term::createFromItem($item['id']);
-		delete_thread($item['id'], $item['parent-uri']);
-
-		// clean up categories and tags so they don't end up as orphans
-
-		$matches = false;
-		$cnt = preg_match_all('/<(.*?)>/', $item['file'], $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
-		if ($cnt) {
-			foreach ($matches as $mtch) {
-				file_tag_unsave_file($item['uid'], $item['id'], $mtch[1],true);
-			}
-		}
-
-		$matches = false;
-
-		$cnt = preg_match_all('/\[(.*?)\]/', $item['file'], $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
-		if ($cnt) {
-			foreach ($matches as $mtch) {
-				file_tag_unsave_file($item['uid'], $item['id'], $mtch[1],false);
-			}
-		}
-
-		/*
-		 * If item is a link to a photo resource, nuke all the associated photos
-		 * (visitors will not have photo resources)
-		 * This only applies to photos uploaded from the photos page. Photos inserted into a post do not
-		 * generate a resource-id and therefore aren't intimately linked to the item.
-		 */
-		if (strlen($item['resource-id'])) {
-			dba::delete('photo', ['resource-id' => $item['resource-id'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
-		}
-
-		// If item is a link to an event, nuke the event record.
-		if (intval($item['event-id'])) {
-			dba::delete('event', ['id' => $item['event-id'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
-		}
-
-		// If item has attachments, drop them
-		foreach (explode(", ", $item['attach']) as $attach) {
-			preg_match("|attach/(\d+)|", $attach, $matches);
-			dba::delete('attach', ['id' => $matches[1], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
-		}
-
-		// The new code splits the queries since the mysql optimizer really has bad problems with subqueries
-
-		// Creating list of parents
-		$r = q("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `parent` = %d AND `uid` = %d",
-			intval($item['id']),
-			intval($item['uid'])
-		);
-
-		$parentid = "";
-
-		foreach ($r as $row) {
-			if ($parentid != "") {
-				$parentid .= ", ";
-			}
-
-			$parentid .= $row["id"];
-		}
-
-		// Now delete them
-		if ($parentid != "") {
-			q("DELETE FROM `sign` WHERE `iid` IN (%s)", dbesc($parentid));
-		}
-
-		// If it's the parent of a comment thread, kill all the kids
-		if ($item['uri'] == $item['parent-uri']) {
-			dba::update('item', ['deleted' => true, 'title' => '', 'body' => '',
-					'edited' => datetime_convert(), 'changed' => datetime_convert()],
-				['parent-uri' => $item['parent-uri'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
-
-			create_tags_from_itemuri($item['parent-uri'], $item['uid']);
-			Term::createFromItemURI($item['parent-uri'], $item['uid']);
-			delete_thread_uri($item['parent-uri'], $item['uid']);
-			// ignore the result
-		} else {
-			// ensure that last-child is set in case the comment that had it just got wiped.
-			dba::update('item', ['last-child' => false, 'changed' => datetime_convert()],
-					['parent-uri' => $item['parent-uri'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
-
-			// who is the last child now?
-			$r = q("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `parent-uri` = '%s' AND `type` != 'activity' AND `deleted` = 0 AND `uid` = %d ORDER BY `edited` DESC LIMIT 1",
-				dbesc($item['parent-uri']),
-				intval($item['uid'])
-			);
-			if (DBM::is_result($r)) {
-				dba::update('item', ['last-child' => true], ['id' => $r[0]['id']]);
-			}
-		}
-
-		// send the notification upstream/downstream
-		// The priority depends on how the deletion is done.
-		$drop_id = intval($item['id']);
-		$priority = ($interactive ? PRIORITY_HIGH : PRIORITY_LOW);
-
-		Worker::add(['priority' => $priority, 'dont_fork' => true], "Notifier", "drop", $drop_id);
-
-		if (! $interactive) {
-			return $owner;
-		}
 		goaway(System::baseUrl() . '/' . $_SESSION['return_url']);
 		//NOTREACHED
 	} else {
-		if (! $interactive) {
-			return 0;
-		}
-		notice( t('Permission denied.') . EOL);
+		notice(t('Permission denied.') . EOL);
 		goaway(System::baseUrl() . '/' . $_SESSION['return_url']);
 		//NOTREACHED
 	}
-
 }
 
 /// @todo: This query seems to be really slow
diff --git a/mod/admin.php b/mod/admin.php
index fc3fb5819..eabbe36d3 100644
--- a/mod/admin.php
+++ b/mod/admin.php
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ use Friendica\Database\DBM;
 use Friendica\Database\DBStructure;
 use Friendica\Model\Contact;
 use Friendica\Model\User;
+use Friendica\Model\Item;
 use Friendica\Module\Login;
 
 require_once 'include/enotify.php';
@@ -492,7 +493,7 @@ function admin_page_deleteitem_post(App $a)
 		// associated threads.
 		$r = dba::select('item', ['id'], ['guid' => $guid]);
 		while ($row = dba::fetch($r)) {
-			drop_item($row['id'], false);
+			Item::delete($row['id']);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 	}
diff --git a/mod/events.php b/mod/events.php
index 1c8c92a31..a1ffcfc1c 100644
--- a/mod/events.php
+++ b/mod/events.php
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ use Friendica\Core\System;
 use Friendica\Core\Worker;
 use Friendica\Database\DBM;
 use Friendica\Model\Profile;
+use Friendica\Model\Item;
 
 require_once 'include/bbcode.php';
 require_once 'include/datetime.php';
@@ -547,7 +548,7 @@ function events_content(App $a) {
 
 		// Delete only real events (no birthdays)
 		if (DBM::is_result($ev) && $ev[0]['type'] == 'event') {
-			$del = drop_item($ev[0]['itemid'], false);
+			$del = Item::delete($ev[0]['itemid']);
 		}
 
 		if ($del == 0) {
diff --git a/mod/item.php b/mod/item.php
index 0ff5eb4fe..19d56638c 100644
--- a/mod/item.php
+++ b/mod/item.php
@@ -972,7 +972,11 @@ function item_content(App $a) {
 
 	$o = '';
 	if (($a->argc == 3) && ($a->argv[1] === 'drop') && intval($a->argv[2])) {
-		$o = drop_item($a->argv[2], !is_ajax());
+		if (is_ajax()) {
+			$o = Item::delete($a->argv[2]);
+		} else {
+			$o = drop_item($a->argv[2]);
+		}
 		if (is_ajax()) {
 			// ajax return: [<item id>, 0 (no perm) | <owner id>]
 			echo json_encode([intval($a->argv[2]), intval($o)]);
diff --git a/src/Model/Item.php b/src/Model/Item.php
index 0c8b8b549..765ab1780 100644
--- a/src/Model/Item.php
+++ b/src/Model/Item.php
@@ -64,6 +64,102 @@ class Item
 		return $rows;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @brief Delete an item and notify others about it - if it was ours
+	 *
+	 * @param integer $item_id Item ID that should be delete
+	 *
+	 * @return $boolean success
+	 */
+	public static function delete($item_id, $priority = PRIORITY_HIGH)
+	{
+		// locate item to be deleted
+		$fields = ['id', 'uid', 'parent', 'parent-uri', 'origin', 'deleted', 'file', 'resource-id', 'event-id', 'attach'];
+		$item = dba::selectFirst('item', $fields, ['id' => $item_id]);
+		if (!DBM::is_result($item)) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		if ($item['deleted']) {
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		$parent = dba::selectFirst('item', ['origin'], ['id' => $item['parent']]);
+		if (!DBM::is_result($parent)) {
+			$parent = ['origin' => false];
+		}
+
+		logger('delete item: ' . $item['id'], LOGGER_DEBUG);
+
+		// clean up categories and tags so they don't end up as orphans
+
+		$matches = false;
+		$cnt = preg_match_all('/<(.*?)>/', $item['file'], $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
+		if ($cnt) {
+			foreach ($matches as $mtch) {
+				file_tag_unsave_file($item['uid'], $item['id'], $mtch[1],true);
+			}
+		}
+
+		$matches = false;
+
+		$cnt = preg_match_all('/\[(.*?)\]/', $item['file'], $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
+		if ($cnt) {
+			foreach ($matches as $mtch) {
+				file_tag_unsave_file($item['uid'], $item['id'], $mtch[1],false);
+			}
+		}
+
+		/*
+		 * If item is a link to a photo resource, nuke all the associated photos
+		 * (visitors will not have photo resources)
+		 * This only applies to photos uploaded from the photos page. Photos inserted into a post do not
+		 * generate a resource-id and therefore aren't intimately linked to the item.
+		 */
+		if (strlen($item['resource-id'])) {
+			dba::delete('photo', ['resource-id' => $item['resource-id'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
+		}
+
+		// If item is a link to an event, nuke the event record.
+		if (intval($item['event-id'])) {
+			dba::delete('event', ['id' => $item['event-id'], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
+		}
+
+		// If item has attachments, drop them
+		foreach (explode(", ", $item['attach']) as $attach) {
+			preg_match("|attach/(\d+)|", $attach, $matches);
+			dba::delete('attach', ['id' => $matches[1], 'uid' => $item['uid']]);
+		}
+
+		// When it is our item we don't delete it here, since we have to send delete messages
+		if ($item['origin'] || $parent['origin']) {
+			// Set the item to "deleted"
+			dba::update('item', ['deleted' => true, 'title' => '', 'body' => '',
+						'edited' => datetime_convert(), 'changed' => datetime_convert()],
+					['id' => $item['id']]);
+
+			create_tags_from_item($item['id']);
+			Term::createFromItem($item['id']);
+			delete_thread($item['id'], $item['parent-uri']);
+
+			// If it's the parent of a comment thread, kill all the kids
+			if ($item['id'] == $item['parent']) {
+				$items = dba::select('item', ['id'], ['parent' => $item['parent']]);
+				while ($row = dba::fetch($items)) {
+					self::delete($row['id'], $priority);
+				}
+			}
+
+			// send the notification upstream/downstream
+			Worker::add(['priority' => $priority, 'dont_fork' => true], "Notifier", "drop", intval($item['id']));
+		} else {
+			// delete it immediately. All related children will be deleted as well.
+			dba::delete('item', ['id' => $item['id']]);
+		}
+
+		return true;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @brief Add a shadow entry for a given item id that is a thread starter
 	 *
diff --git a/src/Worker/Delivery.php b/src/Worker/Delivery.php
index 324ca921f..bd7c5b817 100644
--- a/src/Worker/Delivery.php
+++ b/src/Worker/Delivery.php
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ class Delivery {
 
 		logger('delivery: invoked: '.$cmd.': '.$item_id.' to '.$contact_id, LOGGER_DEBUG);
 
-		$expire = false;
 		$mail = false;
 		$fsuggest = false;
 		$relocate = false;
@@ -54,18 +53,6 @@ class Delivery {
 			$uid = $message[0]['uid'];
 			$recipients[] = $message[0]['contact-id'];
 			$item = $message[0];
-		} elseif ($cmd === 'expire') {
-			$normal_mode = false;
-			$expire = true;
-			$items = q("SELECT * FROM `item` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `wall` = 1
-				AND `deleted` = 1 AND `changed` > UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL 30 MINUTE",
-				intval($item_id)
-			);
-			$uid = $item_id;
-			$item_id = 0;
-			if (!count($items)) {
-				return;
-			}
 		} elseif ($cmd === 'suggest') {
 			$normal_mode = false;
 			$fsuggest = true;
@@ -160,16 +147,6 @@ class Delivery {
 			// if $parent['wall'] == 1 we will already have the parent message in our array
 			// and we will relay the whole lot.
 
-			// expire sends an entire group of expire messages and cannot be forwarded.
-			// However the conversation owner will be a part of the conversation and will
-			// be notified during this run.
-			// Other DFRN conversation members will be alerted during polled updates.
-
-			// Diaspora members currently are not notified of expirations, and other networks have
-			// either limited or no ability to process deletions. We should at least fix Diaspora
-			// by stringing togther an array of retractions and sending them onward.
-
-
 			$localhost = $a->get_hostname();
 			if (strpos($localhost,':')) {
 				$localhost = substr($localhost,0,strpos($localhost,':'));
@@ -184,7 +161,7 @@ class Delivery {
 
 			$relay_to_owner = false;
 
-			if (!$top_level && ($parent['wall'] == 0) && !$expire && stristr($target_item['uri'],$localhost)) {
+			if (!$top_level && ($parent['wall'] == 0) && stristr($target_item['uri'], $localhost)) {
 				$relay_to_owner = true;
 			}
 
diff --git a/src/Worker/Notifier.php b/src/Worker/Notifier.php
index 4b20da314..d69627d11 100644
--- a/src/Worker/Notifier.php
+++ b/src/Worker/Notifier.php
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ require_once 'include/bbcode.php';
  *		drop					(in diaspora.php, items.php, photos.php)
  *		edit_post				(in item.php)
  *		event					(in events.php)
- *		expire					(in items.php)
  *		like					(in like.php, poke.php)
  *		mail					(in message.php)
  *		suggest					(in fsuggest.php)
@@ -60,7 +59,6 @@ class Notifier {
 
 		logger('notifier: invoked: '.$cmd.': '.$item_id, LOGGER_DEBUG);
 
-		$expire = false;
 		$mail = false;
 		$fsuggest = false;
 		$relocate = false;
@@ -82,19 +80,6 @@ class Notifier {
 			$uid = $message[0]['uid'];
 			$recipients[] = $message[0]['contact-id'];
 			$item = $message[0];
-
-		} elseif ($cmd === 'expire') {
-			$normal_mode = false;
-			$expire = true;
-			$items = q("SELECT * FROM `item` WHERE `uid` = %d AND `wall` = 1
-				AND `deleted` = 1 AND `changed` > UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL 10 MINUTE",
-				intval($item_id)
-			);
-			$uid = $item_id;
-			$item_id = 0;
-			if (!count($items)) {
-				return;
-			}
 		} elseif ($cmd === 'suggest') {
 			$normal_mode = false;
 			$fsuggest = true;
@@ -213,18 +198,6 @@ class Notifier {
 			// if $parent['wall'] == 1 we will already have the parent message in our array
 			// and we will relay the whole lot.
 
-			// expire sends an entire group of expire messages and cannot be forwarded.
-			// However the conversation owner will be a part of the conversation and will
-			// be notified during this run.
-			// Other DFRN conversation members will be alerted during polled updates.
-
-
-
-			// Diaspora members currently are not notified of expirations, and other networks have
-			// either limited or no ability to process deletions. We should at least fix Diaspora
-			// by stringing togther an array of retractions and sending them onward.
-
-
 			$localhost = str_replace('www.','',$a->get_hostname());
 			if (strpos($localhost,':')) {
 				$localhost = substr($localhost,0,strpos($localhost,':'));
@@ -239,7 +212,7 @@ class Notifier {
 
 			$relay_to_owner = false;
 
-			if (!$top_level && ($parent['wall'] == 0) && !$expire && (stristr($target_item['uri'],$localhost))) {
+			if (!$top_level && ($parent['wall'] == 0) && (stristr($target_item['uri'],$localhost))) {
 				$relay_to_owner = true;
 			}