diff --git a/src/tag.c b/src/tag.c
index fc9f8b5e4..08ebb71cb 100644
--- a/src/tag.c
+++ b/src/tag.c
@@ -126,11 +126,8 @@ static int parse_tag_buffer(git_tag *tag, const char *buffer, const char *buffer
 	if (tag->tagger == NULL)
 		return GIT_ENOMEM;
 
-	if ((error = git_signature__parse(tag->tagger, &buffer, buffer_end, "tagger ", '\n')) != 0) {
-		free(tag->tag_name);
-		git_signature_free(tag->tagger);
+	if ((error = git_signature__parse(tag->tagger, &buffer, buffer_end, "tagger ", '\n')) != 0)
 		return git__rethrow(error, "Failed to parse tag");
-	}
 
 	if( *buffer != '\n' )
 		return git__throw(GIT_EOBJCORRUPTED, "Failed to parse tag. No new line before message");
diff --git a/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/HEAD b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/HEAD
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb089cd89
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/HEAD differ
diff --git a/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/config b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/config
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f8958058
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/config differ
diff --git a/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/objects/pack/pack-7a28f4e000a17f49a41d7a79fc2f762a8a7d9164.idx b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/objects/pack/pack-7a28f4e000a17f49a41d7a79fc2f762a8a7d9164.idx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c404aa15b
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/objects/pack/pack-7a28f4e000a17f49a41d7a79fc2f762a8a7d9164.idx differ
diff --git a/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/objects/pack/pack-7a28f4e000a17f49a41d7a79fc2f762a8a7d9164.pack b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/objects/pack/pack-7a28f4e000a17f49a41d7a79fc2f762a8a7d9164.pack
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..90eac5032
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/objects/pack/pack-7a28f4e000a17f49a41d7a79fc2f762a8a7d9164.pack differ
diff --git a/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/packed-refs b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/packed-refs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9fd2fd4a
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/resources/bad_tag.git/packed-refs differ
diff --git a/tests/t08-tag.c b/tests/t08-tag.c
index b0d4af87b..079a9e0a8 100644
--- a/tests/t08-tag.c
+++ b/tests/t08-tag.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 static const char *tag1_id = "b25fa35b38051e4ae45d4222e795f9df2e43f1d1";
 static const char *tag2_id = "7b4384978d2493e851f9cca7858815fac9b10980";
 static const char *tagged_commit = "e90810b8df3e80c413d903f631643c716887138d";
+static const char *bad_tag_id = "eda9f45a2a98d4c17a09d681d88569fa4ea91755";
 
 BEGIN_TEST(read0, "read and parse a tag from the repository")
 	git_repository *repo;
@@ -106,6 +107,22 @@ BEGIN_TEST(read2, "list all tag names from the repository matching a specified p
 	git_repository_free(repo);
 END_TEST
 
+#define BAD_TAG_REPOSITORY_FOLDER TEST_RESOURCES "/bad_tag.git/"
+
+BEGIN_TEST(read3, "read and parse a tag without a tagger field")
+	git_repository *repo;
+	git_tag *bad_tag;
+	git_oid id;
+
+	must_pass(git_repository_open(&repo, BAD_TAG_REPOSITORY_FOLDER));
+
+	git_oid_fromstr(&id, bad_tag_id);
+
+	must_fail(git_tag_lookup(&bad_tag, repo, &id));
+
+	git_repository_free(repo);
+END_TEST
+
 
 #define TAGGER_NAME "Vicent Marti"
 #define TAGGER_EMAIL "vicent@github.com"
@@ -304,6 +321,7 @@ BEGIN_SUITE(tag)
 	ADD_TEST(read0);
 	ADD_TEST(read1);
 	ADD_TEST(read2);
+	ADD_TEST(read3);
 
 	ADD_TEST(write0);
 	ADD_TEST(write2);