diff --git a/util/patricia_trie/src/lib.rs b/util/patricia_trie/src/lib.rs
index 3a1d683c2..d1563becf 100644
--- a/util/patricia_trie/src/lib.rs
+++ b/util/patricia_trie/src/lib.rs
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ pub enum TrieError {
 	InvalidStateRoot(H256),
 	/// Trie item not found in the database,
 	IncompleteDatabase(H256),
+	/// Corrupt Trie item
+	DecoderError(rlp::DecoderError),
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for TrieError {
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ impl fmt::Display for TrieError {
 			TrieError::InvalidStateRoot(ref root) => write!(f, "Invalid state root: {}", root),
 			TrieError::IncompleteDatabase(ref missing) =>
 				write!(f, "Database missing expected key: {}", missing),
+			TrieError::DecoderError(ref err) =>  write!(f, "Decoding failed with {}", err),
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -84,10 +87,15 @@ impl error::Error for TrieError {
 		match *self {
 			TrieError::InvalidStateRoot(_) => "Invalid state root",
 			TrieError::IncompleteDatabase(_) => "Incomplete database",
+			TrieError::DecoderError(ref e) => e.description(),
 		}
 	}
 }
 
+impl From<rlp::DecoderError> for Box<TrieError> {
+	fn from(e: rlp::DecoderError) -> Self { Box::new(TrieError::DecoderError(e)) }
+}
+
 /// Trie result type. Boxed to avoid copying around extra space for `H256`s on successful queries.
 pub type Result<T> = ::std::result::Result<T, Box<TrieError>>;
 
diff --git a/util/patricia_trie/src/lookup.rs b/util/patricia_trie/src/lookup.rs
index 88d2bc66e..2d63f7d00 100644
--- a/util/patricia_trie/src/lookup.rs
+++ b/util/patricia_trie/src/lookup.rs
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ impl<'a, Q: Query> Lookup<'a, Q> {
 			// without incrementing the depth.
 			let mut node_data = &node_data[..];
 			loop {
-				match Node::decoded(node_data).expect("rlp read from db; qed") {
+				match Node::decoded(node_data)? {
 					Node::Leaf(slice, value) => {
 						return Ok(match slice == key {
 							true => Some(self.query.decode(value)),
diff --git a/util/patricia_trie/src/triedb.rs b/util/patricia_trie/src/triedb.rs
index 682f12467..aed683117 100644
--- a/util/patricia_trie/src/triedb.rs
+++ b/util/patricia_trie/src/triedb.rs
@@ -493,3 +493,30 @@ fn get_len() {
 	assert_eq!(t.get_with(b"B", |x: &[u8]| x.len()), Ok(Some(5)));
 	assert_eq!(t.get_with(b"C", |x: &[u8]| x.len()), Ok(None));
 }
+
+// Test will work once https://github.com/paritytech/parity/pull/8527 is merged and rlp::decode returns Result instead of panicking
+//#[test]
+//fn test_lookup_with_corrupt_data_returns_decoder_error() {
+//	use memorydb::*;
+//	use super::TrieMut;
+//	use super::triedbmut::*;
+//	use rlp;
+//	use ethereum_types::H512;
+//
+//	let mut memdb = MemoryDB::new();
+//	let mut root = H256::new();
+//	{
+//		let mut t = TrieDBMut::new(&mut memdb, &mut root);
+//		t.insert(b"A", b"ABC").unwrap();
+//		t.insert(b"B", b"ABCBA").unwrap();
+//	}
+//
+//	let t = TrieDB::new(&memdb, &root).unwrap();
+//
+//	// query for an invalid data type to trigger an error
+//	let q = rlp::decode::<H512>;
+//	let lookup = Lookup{ db: t.db, query: q, hash: root };
+//	let query_result = lookup.look_up(NibbleSlice::new(b"A"));
+//	let expected = Box::new(TrieError::DecoderError(::rlp::DecoderError::RlpIsTooShort));
+//	assert_eq!(query_result.unwrap_err(), expected);
+//}
diff --git a/util/rlp/src/error.rs b/util/rlp/src/error.rs
index 5113fdc17..7aef6cfbf 100644
--- a/util/rlp/src/error.rs
+++ b/util/rlp/src/error.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 use std::fmt;
 use std::error::Error as StdError;
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Clone)]
 /// Error concerning the RLP decoder.
 pub enum DecoderError {
 	/// Data has additional bytes at the end of the valid RLP fragment.