diff --git a/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/dao/LdapDaoITest.java b/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/dao/LdapDaoITest.java
index 6f252f58..4a153698 100644
--- a/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/dao/LdapDaoITest.java
+++ b/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/dao/LdapDaoITest.java
@@ -91,17 +91,27 @@ public class LdapDaoITest extends AbstractLdapTemplateIntegrationTest
     }
 
 
-    public void testLoadsReferencedEntities()
+    public void testLoadsReferences()
     {
         ITestRole webUser = (ITestRole) ldapDao.findByNamingAttribute("webUser", ITestRole.class);
         ldapDao.create(testPerson);
         webUser.setMembers(new ITestPerson[]{testPerson});
         ldapDao.update(webUser);
         ITestRole updated = (ITestRole) ldapDao.findByNamingAttribute("webUser", ITestRole.class);
-        LOGGER.debug(updated);
+        LOGGER.debug("Updated:" + updated);
         Assert.assertTrue(ArrayUtils.contains(updated.getMembers(), testPerson));
     }
 
+    public void testLoadsReferences_brokenReferenceReturnedAsNull()
+    {
+        ITestRole webUser = (ITestRole) ldapDao.findByNamingAttribute("webUser", ITestRole.class);
+        webUser.setMembers(new ITestPerson[]{testPerson});
+        ldapDao.update(webUser);
+        ITestRole updated = (ITestRole) ldapDao.findByNamingAttribute("webUser", ITestRole.class);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(updated);
+        LOGGER.debug(updated);
+    }
+
 
     public void testFindByDn()
     {
diff --git a/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/resources/beans.xml b/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/resources/beans.xml
index ac6fc68e..64c118a0 100644
--- a/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/resources/beans.xml
+++ b/spring-ldap-odm/src/itest/resources/beans.xml
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<!DOCTYPE beans PUBLIC "-//SPRING//DTD BEAN//EN" "http://www.springframework.org/dtd/spring-beans.dtd">
-<beans>
+<beans
+        xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+        xmlns:grid="http://schema.majitek.com/spring"
+        xsi:schemaLocation="
+http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd
+http://schema.majitek.com/spring
+http://schema.majitek.com/grid-spring-v1.0.xsd">
 
     <import resource="classpath:/apacheDsContext.xml"/>
 
@@ -17,25 +24,25 @@
 		<property name="dirObjectFactory" value="org.springframework.ldap.core.support.DefaultDirObjectFactory" />
 	</bean>
 
-    <bean id="ldapTemplate" singleton="true" class="org.springframework.ldap.core.LdapTemplate">
+    <bean id="ldapTemplate" scope="singleton" class="org.springframework.ldap.core.LdapTemplate">
         <constructor-arg ref="contextSource"/>
     </bean>
 
-    <bean id="typeConverter" singleton="true" class="org.springframework.ldap.odm.typeconversion.LdapTypeConverter"/>
+    <bean id="typeConverter" scope="singleton" class="org.springframework.ldap.odm.typeconversion.LdapTypeConverter"/>
 
-    <bean id="referencedEntryEditorFactory" singleton="true"
+    <bean id="referencedEntryEditorFactory" scope="singleton"
           class="org.springframework.ldap.odm.typeconversion.ReferencedEntryEditorFactory">
         <constructor-arg value="${base}" />
         <constructor-arg ref="ldapTemplate"/>
     </bean>
 
-    <bean id="ctxMapperFactory" singleton="true"
+    <bean id="ctxMapperFactory" scope="singleton"
           class="org.springframework.ldap.odm.mapping.ObjectDirectoryMapperFactory">
         <constructor-arg ref="typeConverter"/>
         <constructor-arg ref="referencedEntryEditorFactory"/>
     </bean>
 
-    <bean id="ldapDao" singleton="true" class="org.springframework.ldap.odm.dao.LdapDaoImpl">
+    <bean id="ldapDao" scope="singleton" class="org.springframework.ldap.odm.dao.LdapDaoImpl">
         <constructor-arg ref="ldapTemplate"/>
         <constructor-arg ref="ctxMapperFactory"/>
     </bean>
diff --git a/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/mapping/ObjectDirectoryMapperImpl.java b/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/mapping/ObjectDirectoryMapperImpl.java
index 1ac218d7..069b31ce 100644
--- a/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/mapping/ObjectDirectoryMapperImpl.java
+++ b/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/mapping/ObjectDirectoryMapperImpl.java
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ public class ObjectDirectoryMapperImpl implements ObjectDirectoryMapper
                         Object beanPropertyValue = typeConverter.convertIfNecessary(
                                 new AttributeWrapper(attribute).getAllAsObject(), attributeType);
                         propertySetters.get(beanPropertyName).invoke(instance, beanPropertyValue);
+
                     }
                     catch (TypeMismatchException e)
                     {
diff --git a/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/typeconversion/ReferencedEntryEditor.java b/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/typeconversion/ReferencedEntryEditor.java
index f55dafb0..707cd6aa 100644
--- a/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/typeconversion/ReferencedEntryEditor.java
+++ b/spring-ldap-odm/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/odm/typeconversion/ReferencedEntryEditor.java
@@ -9,11 +9,13 @@ import org.springframework.ldap.core.LdapTemplate;
 import org.springframework.ldap.core.DistinguishedName;
 import org.springframework.ldap.odm.mapping.MappingException;
 import org.springframework.ldap.odm.mapping.ObjectDirectoryMapper;
+import org.springframework.ldap.NameNotFoundException;
 
 import java.beans.PropertyEditorSupport;
 
-/** ReferencedEntryEditor is responsible for converting references in an object
- * directory map from distinguished name strings to the target type and vice versa.  
+/**
+ * ReferencedEntryEditor is responsible for converting references in an object
+ * directory map from distinguished name strings to the target type and vice versa.
  */
 public class ReferencedEntryEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport
 {
@@ -30,7 +32,9 @@ public class ReferencedEntryEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport
         this.objectDirectoryMapper = objectDirectoryMapper;
     }
 
-    /** Builds a distinguished name from the instance value */
+    /**
+     * Builds a distinguished name from the instance value
+     */
     public String getAsText()
     {
         try
@@ -45,9 +49,11 @@ public class ReferencedEntryEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport
         }
     }
 
-    /** Sets the value of the editor by performing a lookup and mapping the result
+    /**
+     * Sets the value of the editor by performing a lookup and mapping the result
      * to the target type using an object directory mapper.
-     * @param text The distinguished name of an ldap entry.  
+     *
+     * @param text The distinguished name of an ldap entry.
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException
      */
     public void setAsText(String text) throws IllegalArgumentException
@@ -60,6 +66,15 @@ public class ReferencedEntryEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport
                 dn.removeFirst();
             }
         }
-        setValue(ldapTemplate.lookup(dn, objectDirectoryMapper));
+        try
+        {
+            setValue(ldapTemplate.lookup(dn, objectDirectoryMapper));
+        }
+        catch (NameNotFoundException e)
+        {
+            setValue(null);
+
+        }
+
     }
 }