diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py
index ddab485dc1..f947dccfc0 100644
--- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/util/element.py
@@ -118,6 +118,14 @@ def is_representation_of_context(representation, context, subcontext=None, targe
         return True
 
 
+def remove_deep(ifc_file, element):
+    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 get_representation(element, context, subcontext=None, target_view=None):
     if element.is_a("IfcProduct") and element.Representation:
         for r in element.Representation.Representations: