diff --git a/CGAL_ImageIO/include/CGAL/read_vtk_image_data.h b/CGAL_ImageIO/include/CGAL/read_vtk_image_data.h
index 6923049d054..a7ee0a371e2 100644
--- a/CGAL_ImageIO/include/CGAL/read_vtk_image_data.h
+++ b/CGAL_ImageIO/include/CGAL/read_vtk_image_data.h
@@ -85,8 +85,10 @@ read_vtk_image_data(vtkImageData* vtk_image, Image_3::Own owning = Image_3::OWN_
   image->wdim = imageio_type.wdim;
   image->wordKind = imageio_type.wordKind;
   image->sign = imageio_type.sign;
-  if (!vtk_image->GetPointData() || !vtk_image->GetPointData()->GetScalars())
+  if (!vtk_image->GetPointData() || !vtk_image->GetPointData()->GetScalars()) {
+    ::_freeImage(image);
     return Image_3();
+  }
   CGAL_assertion(vtk_image->GetPointData()->GetScalars()->GetNumberOfTuples() == dims[0]*dims[1]*dims[2]);
   if(owning == Image_3::OWN_THE_DATA) {
     image->data = ::ImageIO_alloc(dims[0]*dims[1]*dims[2]*image->wdim);