diff --git a/include/api.php b/include/api.php
index 3832257784..a70c18f3ca 100644
--- a/include/api.php
+++ b/include/api.php
@@ -2256,7 +2256,7 @@ function api_statuses_destroy($type)
 
 	$ret = api_statuses_show($type);
 
-	Item::deleteById($id, PRIORITY_HIGH, api_user());
+	Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $id], api_user());
 
 	return $ret;
 }
@@ -4148,7 +4148,7 @@ function api_fr_photoalbum_delete($type)
 		if (!DBM::is_result($photo_item)) {
 			throw new InternalServerErrorException("problem with deleting items occured");
 		}
-		Item::deleteById($photo_item[0]['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH, api_user());
+		Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $photo_item[0]['id']], api_user());
 	}
 
 	// now let's delete all photos from the album
@@ -4441,7 +4441,7 @@ function api_fr_photo_delete($type)
 		}
 		// function for setting the items to "deleted = 1" which ensures that comments, likes etc. are not shown anymore
 		// to the user and the contacts of the users (drop_items() do all the necessary magic to avoid orphans in database and federate deletion)
-		Item::deleteById($photo_item[0]['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH, api_user());
+		Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $photo_item[0]['id']], api_user());
 
 		$answer = ['result' => 'deleted', 'message' => 'photo with id `' . $photo_id . '` has been deleted from server.'];
 		return api_format_data("photo_delete", $type, ['$result' => $answer]);
diff --git a/include/items.php b/include/items.php
index b84ac701a6..4533b6077e 100644
--- a/include/items.php
+++ b/include/items.php
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ function drop_items($items) {
 
 	if (count($items)) {
 		foreach ($items as $item) {
-			$owner = Item::deleteById($item, PRIORITY_HIGH, local_user());
+			$owner = Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $item], local_user());
 			if ($owner && !$uid)
 				$uid = $owner;
 		}
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ function drop_item($id) {
 		}
 
 		// delete the item
-		Item::deleteById($item['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH, local_user());
+		Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $item['id']], local_user());
 
 		goaway(System::baseUrl() . '/' . $_SESSION['return_url']);
 		//NOTREACHED
diff --git a/mod/admin.php b/mod/admin.php
index e374201fff..83dafcfd97 100644
--- a/mod/admin.php
+++ b/mod/admin.php
@@ -555,14 +555,9 @@ function admin_page_deleteitem_post(App $a)
 		if (strpos($guid, '/')) {
 			$guid = substr($guid, strrpos($guid, '/') + 1);
 		}
-		// Now that we have the GUID get all IDs of the associated entries in the
-		// item table of the DB and drop those items, which will also delete the
+		// Now that we have the GUID, drop those items, which will also delete the
 		// associated threads.
-		$r = dba::select('item', ['id'], ['guid' => $guid]);
-		while ($row = dba::fetch($r)) {
-			Item::deleteById($row['id']);
-		}
-		dba::close($r);
+		Item::delete(['guid' => $guid]);
 	}
 
 	info(L10n::t('Item marked for deletion.') . EOL);
diff --git a/mod/events.php b/mod/events.php
index e40e69f500..87c358a99e 100644
--- a/mod/events.php
+++ b/mod/events.php
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ function events_content(App $a) {
 
 		// Delete only real events (no birthdays)
 		if (DBM::is_result($ev) && $ev[0]['type'] == 'event') {
-			$del = Item::deleteById($ev[0]['itemid'], PRIORITY_HIGH, local_user());
+			$del = Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $ev[0]['itemid']], local_user());
 		}
 
 		if ($del == 0) {
diff --git a/mod/item.php b/mod/item.php
index ca79a64028..823350874b 100644
--- a/mod/item.php
+++ b/mod/item.php
@@ -877,7 +877,7 @@ function item_content(App $a) {
 	$o = '';
 	if (($a->argc == 3) && ($a->argv[1] === 'drop') && intval($a->argv[2])) {
 		if (is_ajax()) {
-			$o = Item::deleteById($a->argv[2], PRIORITY_HIGH, local_user());
+			$o = Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $a->argv[2]], local_user());
 		} else {
 			$o = drop_item($a->argv[2]);
 		}
diff --git a/mod/photos.php b/mod/photos.php
index 3d38be5037..30d3728d36 100644
--- a/mod/photos.php
+++ b/mod/photos.php
@@ -284,14 +284,7 @@ function photos_post(App $a)
 			);
 
 			// find and delete the corresponding item with all the comments and likes/dislikes
-			$r = q("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `resource-id` IN ( $str_res ) AND `uid` = %d",
-				intval($page_owner_uid)
-			);
-			if (DBM::is_result($r)) {
-				foreach ($r as $rr) {
-					Item::deleteById($rr['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH, $page_owner_uid);
-				}
-			}
+			Item::deleteForUser(['resource-id' => $res, 'uid' => $page_owner_uid], $page_owner_uid);
 
 			// Update the photo albums cache
 			Photo::clearAlbumCache($page_owner_uid);
@@ -344,16 +337,11 @@ function photos_post(App $a)
 				intval($page_owner_uid),
 				dbesc($r[0]['resource-id'])
 			);
-			$i = q("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `resource-id` = '%s' AND `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
-				dbesc($r[0]['resource-id']),
-				intval($page_owner_uid)
-			);
-			if (DBM::is_result($i)) {
-				Item::deleteById($i[0]['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH, $page_owner_uid);
 
-				// Update the photo albums cache
-				Photo::clearAlbumCache($page_owner_uid);
-			}
+			Item::deleteForUser(['resource-id' => $r[0]['resource-id'], 'uid' => $page_owner_uid], $page_owner_uid);
+
+			// Update the photo albums cache
+			Photo::clearAlbumCache($page_owner_uid);
 		}
 
 		goaway('photos/' . $a->data['user']['nickname']);
diff --git a/mod/videos.php b/mod/videos.php
index 6dee4586aa..0dd653e914 100644
--- a/mod/videos.php
+++ b/mod/videos.php
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ function videos_post(App $a) {
 			);
 
 			if (DBM::is_result($i)) {
-				Item::deleteById($i[0]['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH, local_user());
+				Item::deleteForUser(['id' => $i[0]['id']], local_user());
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/Model/Item.php b/src/Model/Item.php
index ea866152bb..0bac3210d7 100644
--- a/src/Model/Item.php
+++ b/src/Model/Item.php
@@ -92,13 +92,38 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 	 *
 	 * @param array $condition The condition for finding the item entries
 	 * @param integer $priority Priority for the notification
-	 * @param integer $uid User who wants to delete the item
 	 */
-	public static function delete($condition, $priority = PRIORITY_HIGH, $uid = 0)
+	public static function delete($condition, $priority = PRIORITY_HIGH)
 	{
 		$items = dba::select('item', ['id'], $condition);
 		while ($item = dba::fetch($items)) {
-			self::deleteById($item['id'], $priority, $uid);
+			self::deleteById($item['id'], $priority);
+		}
+		dba::close($items);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief Delete an item for an user and notify others about it - if it was ours
+	 *
+	 * @param array $condition The condition for finding the item entries
+	 * @param integer $uid User who wants to delete this item
+	 */
+	public static function deleteForUser($condition, $uid)
+	{
+		if ($uid == 0) {
+			return;
+		}
+
+		$items = dba::select('item', ['id', 'uid'], $condition);
+		while ($item = dba::fetch($items)) {
+			// "Deleting" global items just means hiding them
+			if ($item['uid'] == 0) {
+				dba::update('user-item', ['hidden' => true], ['iid' => $item['id'], 'uid' => $uid], true);
+			} elseif ($item['uid'] == $uid) {
+				self::deleteById($item['id'], PRIORITY_HIGH);
+			} else {
+				logger('Wrong ownership. Not deleting item ' . $item['id']);
+			}
 		}
 		dba::close($items);
 	}
@@ -108,11 +133,10 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 	 *
 	 * @param integer $item_id Item ID that should be delete
 	 * @param integer $priority Priority for the notification
-	 * @param integer $uid User who wants to delete the item
 	 *
 	 * @return boolean success
 	 */
-	public static function deleteById($item_id, $priority = PRIORITY_HIGH, $uid = 0)
+	private static function deleteById($item_id, $priority = PRIORITY_HIGH)
 	{
 		// locate item to be deleted
 		$fields = ['id', 'uri', 'uid', 'parent', 'parent-uri', 'origin',
@@ -134,12 +158,6 @@ class Item extends BaseObject
 			$parent = ['origin' => false];
 		}
 
-		// "Deleting" global items just means hiding them
-		if (($item['uid'] == 0) && ($uid != 0)) {
-			dba::update('user-item', ['hidden' => true], ['iid' => $item_id, 'uid' => $uid], true);
-			return true;
-		}
-
 		// clean up categories and tags so they don't end up as orphans
 
 		$matches = false;
diff --git a/src/Protocol/DFRN.php b/src/Protocol/DFRN.php
index 5efcfb80b5..bf943f1a15 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/DFRN.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/DFRN.php
@@ -2807,15 +2807,13 @@ class DFRN
 			}
 		}
 
-		$entrytype = self::getEntryType($importer, $item);
-
-		if (!$item["deleted"]) {
-			logger('deleting item '.$item["id"].' uri='.$uri, LOGGER_DEBUG);
-		} else {
+		if ($item["deleted"]) {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		Item::deleteById($item["id"]);
+		logger('deleting item '.$item["id"].' uri='.$uri, LOGGER_DEBUG);
+
+		Item::delete(['id' => $item["id"]]);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php b/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
index d2a7995d86..f3aa672a21 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/Diaspora.php
@@ -2785,7 +2785,7 @@ class Diaspora
 
 		while ($item = dba::fetch($r)) {
 			// Fetch the parent item
-			$parent = dba::selectFirst('item', ['author-link', 'origin'], ['id' => $item["parent"]]);
+			$parent = dba::selectFirst('item', ['author-link'], ['id' => $item["parent"]]);
 
 			// Only delete it if the parent author really fits
 			if (!link_compare($parent["author-link"], $contact["url"]) && !link_compare($item["author-link"], $contact["url"])) {
@@ -2793,7 +2793,7 @@ class Diaspora
 				continue;
 			}
 
-			Item::deleteById($item["id"]);
+			Item::delete(['id' => $item["id"]]);
 
 			logger("Deleted target ".$target_guid." (".$item["id"].") from user ".$item["uid"]." parent: ".$item["parent"], LOGGER_DEBUG);
 		}
diff --git a/src/Protocol/OStatus.php b/src/Protocol/OStatus.php
index 8b69392144..e91d81f58e 100644
--- a/src/Protocol/OStatus.php
+++ b/src/Protocol/OStatus.php
@@ -537,13 +537,12 @@ class OStatus
 	private static function deleteNotice($item)
 	{
 		$condition = ['uid' => $item['uid'], 'author-link' => $item['author-link'], 'uri' => $item['uri']];
-		$deleted = dba::selectFirst('item', ['id', 'parent-uri'], $condition);
-		if (!DBM::is_result($deleted)) {
-			logger('Item from '.$item['author-link'].' with uri '.$item['uri'].' for user '.$item['uid']." wasn't found. We don't delete it. ");
+		if (!dba::exists('item', $condition)) {
+			logger('Item from '.$item['author-link'].' with uri '.$item['uri'].' for user '.$item['uid']." wasn't found. We don't delete it.");
 			return;
 		}
 
-		Item::deleteById($deleted["id"]);
+		Item::delete($condition);
 
 		logger('Deleted item with uri '.$item['uri'].' for user '.$item['uid']);
 	}