diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py
index 788acf7f34..1c90f3d391 100644
--- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py
@@ -119,17 +119,13 @@ def is_representation_of_context(representation, context, subcontext=None, targe
 
 
 def remove_deep(ifc_file, element):
+    # @todo maybe some sort of try-finally mechanism.
+    ifc_file.batch()
     subgraph = list(ifc_file.traverse(element))
     subgraph_set = set(subgraph)
     for ref in subgraph[::-1]:
         if ref.id() and len(set(ifc_file.get_inverse(ref)) - subgraph_set) == 0:
             ifc_file.remove(ref)
-
-
-def remove_deep_batched(ifc_file, element):
-    # @todo maybe some sort of try-finally mechanism.
-    ifc_file.batch()
-    remove_deep(ifc_file, element)
     ifc_file.unbatch()