diff --git a/libguile/regex-posix.c b/libguile/regex-posix.c
index 26b49f5d0..63278de86 100644
--- a/libguile/regex-posix.c
+++ b/libguile/regex-posix.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+/*	Copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -210,9 +210,12 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_regexp, "make-regexp", 1, 0, 1,
 		    cflags & ~REG_NOSUB);
   if (status != 0)
     {
+      char *errmsg = scm_regexp_error_msg (status, rx);
+      free (rx);
+      scm_done_free (sizeof (regex_t));
       scm_error (scm_regexp_error_key,
 		 FUNC_NAME,
-		 scm_regexp_error_msg (status, rx),
+                 errmsg,
 		 SCM_BOOL_F,
 		 SCM_BOOL_F);
       /* never returns */