diff --git a/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java b/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java
index aa2b28a2e..975101477 100644
--- a/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java
+++ b/bots/notify/src/main/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifier.java
@@ -29,9 +29,11 @@
 
 import java.io.*;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
 
 public class PullRequestBranchNotifier implements Notifier, PullRequestListener {
     private final Path seedFolder;
+    private final Logger log = Logger.getLogger("org.openjdk.skara.bots.notify");
 
     public PullRequestBranchNotifier(Path seedFolder) {
         this.seedFolder = seedFolder;
@@ -53,6 +55,14 @@ private void pushBranch(PullRequest pr) {
     }
 
     private void deleteBranch(PullRequest pr) {
+        var branchExists = pr.repository().branches().stream()
+                         .map(HostedBranch::name)
+                         .anyMatch(name -> name.equals(PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr)));
+        if (!branchExists) {
+            log.info("Pull request pre-integration branch " + PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr) + " doesn't exist on remote - ignoring");
+            return;
+        }
+
         var hostedRepositoryPool = new HostedRepositoryPool(seedFolder);
         try {
             var seedRepo = hostedRepositoryPool.seedRepository(pr.repository(), false);
diff --git a/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java b/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java
index d76f2c854..2ceeb6f9c 100644
--- a/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java
+++ b/bots/notify/src/test/java/org/openjdk/skara/bots/notify/prbranch/PullRequestBranchNotifierTests.java
@@ -24,9 +24,10 @@
 
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.*;
 import org.openjdk.skara.forge.*;
-import org.openjdk.skara.issuetracker.*;
-import org.openjdk.skara.json.*;
+import org.openjdk.skara.issuetracker.Issue;
+import org.openjdk.skara.json.JSON;
 import org.openjdk.skara.test.*;
+import org.openjdk.skara.vcs.Branch;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -137,4 +138,42 @@ void updated(TestInfo testInfo) throws IOException {
             assertEquals(updatedHash, hash);
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void branchMissing(TestInfo testInfo) throws IOException {
+        try (var credentials = new HostCredentials(testInfo);
+             var tempFolder = new TemporaryDirectory()) {
+
+            var repo = credentials.getHostedRepository();
+            var repoFolder = tempFolder.path().resolve("repo");
+            var localRepo = CheckableRepository.init(repoFolder, repo.repositoryType());
+            credentials.commitLock(localRepo);
+            localRepo.pushAll(repo.url());
+
+            var storageFolder = tempFolder.path().resolve("storage");
+            var notifyBot = testBotBuilder(repo, storageFolder).create("notify", JSON.object());
+
+            // Initialize history
+            TestBotRunner.runPeriodicItems(notifyBot);
+
+            // Create a PR
+            var editHash = CheckableRepository.appendAndCommit(localRepo, "Another line");
+            localRepo.push(editHash, repo.url(), "source", true);
+            var pr = credentials.createPullRequest(repo, "master", "source", "This is a PR", false);
+            pr.addLabel("rfr");
+            TestBotRunner.runPeriodicItems(notifyBot);
+
+            // The target repo should now contain the new branch
+            var hash = localRepo.fetch(repo.url(), PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr));
+            assertEquals(editHash, hash);
+            try {
+                localRepo.prune(new Branch(PreIntegrations.preIntegrateBranch(pr)), repo.url().toString());
+            } catch (IOException ignored) {
+            }
+
+            // Now close it - no exception should be raised
+            pr.setState(Issue.State.CLOSED);
+            TestBotRunner.runPeriodicItems(notifyBot);
+        }
+    }
 }