diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D.cpp
index 15bd4a570777..c1b8599d9c4c 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D.cpp
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ If the file contains mulitple SASentry elements a workspace group will be create
 #include <Poco/DOM/NodeList.h>
 #include <Poco/DOM/Text.h>
 #include <Poco/SAX/InputSource.h>
+#include <Poco/DOM/AutoPtr.h>
 
 #include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ int LoadCanSAS1D::confidence(Kernel::FileDescriptor & descriptor) const
     Poco::XML::InputSource src(is);
     // Set up the DOM parser and parse xml file
     DOMParser pParser;
-    Document* pDoc;
+    Poco::AutoPtr<Document> pDoc;
     try
     {
       pDoc = pParser.parse(&src);
@@ -98,7 +99,6 @@ int LoadCanSAS1D::confidence(Kernel::FileDescriptor & descriptor) const
         confidence = 80;
       }
     }
-    pDoc->release();
   }// end of inner scope
 
   return confidence;
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ void LoadCanSAS1D::exec()
   const std::string fileName = getPropertyValue("Filename");
   // Set up the DOM parser and parse xml file
   DOMParser pParser;
-  Document* pDoc;
+  Poco::AutoPtr<Document> pDoc;
   try
   {
     pDoc = pParser.parse(fileName);
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ void LoadCanSAS1D::exec()
     throw Kernel::Exception::NotFoundError("No root element in CanSAS1D XML file", fileName);
   }
   // there can be multiple <SASentry> elements, each one contains a period which will go into a workspace group if there are more than one of them
-  NodeList* entryList = pRootElem->getElementsByTagName("SASentry");
+  Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> entryList = pRootElem->getElementsByTagName("SASentry");
   size_t numEntries = entryList->length();
   Workspace_sptr outputWork;
   MatrixWorkspace_sptr WS;
@@ -164,8 +164,6 @@ void LoadCanSAS1D::exec()
       }
       outputWork = group;
   }
-  entryList->release();
-  pDoc->release();
   setProperty("OutputWorkspace", outputWork);
 }
 /** Load an individual "<SASentry>" element into a new workspace
@@ -181,7 +179,7 @@ MatrixWorkspace_sptr LoadCanSAS1D::loadEntry(Poco::XML::Node * const workspaceDa
   check(workspaceElem, "<SASentry>");
   runName = workspaceElem->getAttribute("name");
 
-  NodeList* runs = workspaceElem->getElementsByTagName("Run");
+  Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> runs = workspaceElem->getElementsByTagName("Run");
   if ( runs->length() != 1 )
   {
     throw Exception::NotImplementedError("<SASentry>s containing multiple runs, or no runs, are not currently supported");
@@ -190,7 +188,7 @@ MatrixWorkspace_sptr LoadCanSAS1D::loadEntry(Poco::XML::Node * const workspaceDa
   Element* sasDataElem = workspaceElem->getChildElement("SASdata");
   check(sasDataElem, "<SASdata>");
   // getting number of Idata elements in the xml file
-  NodeList* idataElemList = sasDataElem->getElementsByTagName("Idata");
+  Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> idataElemList = sasDataElem->getElementsByTagName("Idata");
   size_t nBins = idataElemList->length();
 
   MatrixWorkspace_sptr dataWS =
@@ -266,7 +264,6 @@ MatrixWorkspace_sptr LoadCanSAS1D::loadEntry(Poco::XML::Node * const workspaceDa
   // run load instrument
   runLoadInstrument(instname, dataWS);
 
-  idataElemList->release();
   dataWS->getAxis(0)->setUnit("MomentumTransfer");
   return dataWS;
 }
@@ -336,12 +333,12 @@ void LoadCanSAS1D::createLogs(const Poco::XML::Element * const sasEntry, API::Ma
   Element * runText = sasEntry->getChildElement("Run");
   check(runText, "Run");
   run.addLogData(new PropertyWithValue<std::string>(
-                                      "run_number", runText->innerText()));
+    "run_number", runText->innerText()));
 
   Element * process = sasEntry->getChildElement("SASprocess");
   if (process)
   {
-    NodeList* terms = process->getElementsByTagName("term");
+    Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> terms = process->getElementsByTagName("term");
     for ( unsigned int i = 0; i < terms->length(); ++i )
     {
       Node* term = terms->item(i);
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D2.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D2.cpp
index 6e1f20d414b0..48d74460d8a8 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D2.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadCanSAS1D2.cpp
@@ -147,9 +147,8 @@ MatrixWorkspace_sptr LoadCanSAS1D2::loadEntry(Poco::XML::Node * const workspaceD
 
   Element *workspaceElem = dynamic_cast<Element*>(workspaceData);
   //  check(workspaceElem, "<SASentry>"); // already done at LoadCanSAS1D::loadEntry
-  NodeList * sasTransList = workspaceElem->getElementsByTagName("SAStransmission_spectrum");
-  if (!sasTransList->length()){
-    //sasTransList->release(); 
+  Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> sasTransList = workspaceElem->getElementsByTagName("SAStransmission_spectrum");
+  if (!sasTransList->length()){ 
     g_log.warning() << "There is no transmission data for this file " << getPropertyValue("Filename") << std::endl; 
     return main_out; 
   }
@@ -164,7 +163,7 @@ MatrixWorkspace_sptr LoadCanSAS1D2::loadEntry(Poco::XML::Node * const workspaceD
     std::vector<API::MatrixWorkspace_sptr> & group = (sasTrasElem->getAttribute("name") == "sample")? trans_gp : trans_can_gp;
 
     // getting number of Tdata elements in the xml file
-    NodeList* tdataElemList = sasTrasElem->getElementsByTagName("Tdata");
+    Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> tdataElemList = sasTrasElem->getElementsByTagName("Tdata");
     size_t nBins = tdataElemList->length();  
 
     MatrixWorkspace_sptr dataWS =
@@ -222,7 +221,6 @@ MatrixWorkspace_sptr LoadCanSAS1D2::loadEntry(Poco::XML::Node * const workspaceD
       }
   
     runLoadInstrument(main_out->getInstrument()->getName(), dataWS); 
-    tdataElemList->release();
     dataWS->getAxis(0)->setUnit("Wavelength");
 
     // add to group
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadMask.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadMask.cpp
index 88c3e3700725..3a804b5302d6 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadMask.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadMask.cpp
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ namespace DataHandling
       throw std::runtime_error("Call LoadMask::initialize() before parseXML.");
 
     // 1. Parse and create a structure
-    NodeList* pNL_type = pRootElem->getElementsByTagName("type");
+    Poco::AutoPtr<NodeList> pNL_type = pRootElem->getElementsByTagName("type");
     g_log.information() << "Node Size = " << pNL_type->length() << std::endl;
 
     Poco::XML::NodeIterator it(pDoc, Poco::XML::NodeFilter::SHOW_ELEMENT);
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadPreNexusMonitors.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadPreNexusMonitors.cpp
index 6c64df15e3e1..bdcde21cb165 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadPreNexusMonitors.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadPreNexusMonitors.cpp
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ void LoadPreNexusMonitors::exec()
     if (pNode->nodeName() == "DataList")
     {
       // Get a list of the child elements
-      Poco::XML::NodeList* pDataListChildren = pNode->childNodes();
+      Poco::AutoPtr<Poco::XML::NodeList> pDataListChildren = pNode->childNodes();
       for (unsigned long i = 0; i < pDataListChildren->length(); ++i)
       {
         // We only care about monitors
@@ -153,8 +153,6 @@ void LoadPreNexusMonitors::exec()
             monitorFilenames.push_back(element->getAttribute("name"));
         }
       }
-      // Release the NodeList
-      pDataListChildren->release();
 
     }
 
@@ -162,7 +160,7 @@ void LoadPreNexusMonitors::exec()
     if (pNode->nodeName() == "FileFormats")
     {
       // Get a list of the child elements
-      Poco::XML::NodeList* pDataListChildren = pNode->childNodes();
+      Poco::AutoPtr<Poco::XML::NodeList> pDataListChildren = pNode->childNodes();
       for (unsigned long i = 0; i < pDataListChildren->length(); ++i)
       {
         // We only care about monitors
@@ -173,8 +171,6 @@ void LoadPreNexusMonitors::exec()
           tchannels = boost::lexical_cast<int>(dims);
         }
       }
-      // Release the NodeList
-      pDataListChildren->release();
     }
 
     pNode = it.nextNode();
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadSpice2D.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadSpice2D.cpp
index 9572d81c7604..486c9b22299b 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadSpice2D.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/LoadSpice2D.cpp
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ namespace Mantid
         Poco::XML::InputSource src(is);
         // Set up the DOM parser and parse xml file
         DOMParser pParser;
-        Document* pDoc;
+        Poco::AutoPtr<Document> pDoc;
         try
         {
           pDoc = pParser.parse(&src);
@@ -130,7 +130,6 @@ namespace Mantid
             confidence = 80;
           }
         }
-        pDoc->release();
       }// end of inner scope
 
       return confidence;
@@ -179,7 +178,7 @@ namespace Mantid
 
       // Set up the DOM parser and parse xml file
       DOMParser pParser;
-      Document* pDoc;
+      Poco::AutoPtr<Document> pDoc;
       try
       {
         pDoc = pParser.parse(fileName);
@@ -421,9 +420,6 @@ namespace Mantid
         g_log.error("Unable to successfully run MoveInstrumentComponent Child Algorithm");
         g_log.error(e.what());
       }
-
-      // Release the XML document memory
-      pDoc->release();
     }
 
     /** Run the Child Algorithm LoadInstrument (as for LoadRaw)
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/SNSDataArchive.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/SNSDataArchive.cpp
index e6147f766912..b9477033019a 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/SNSDataArchive.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/DataHandling/src/SNSDataArchive.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <Poco/DOM/NodeList.h>
 #include <Poco/DOM/NodeIterator.h>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/predicate.hpp>
+#include "Poco/DOM/AutoPtr.h"
 
 #include <iostream>
 
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ std::string SNSDataArchive::getArchivePath(const std::set<std::string>& filename
   // Create a DOM document from the response.
   Poco::XML::DOMParser parser;
   Poco::XML::InputSource source(rs);
-  Poco::XML::Document* pDoc = parser.parse(&source);
+  Poco::AutoPtr<Poco::XML::Document> pDoc = parser.parse(&source);
 
   std::vector<std::string> locations;
 
@@ -84,7 +85,7 @@ std::string SNSDataArchive::getArchivePath(const std::set<std::string>& filename
   if (res.getStatus() == Poco::Net::HTTPResponse::HTTP_OK)
   {
     std::string location;
-    Poco::XML::NodeList* pList = pDoc->getElementsByTagName("location");
+    Poco::AutoPtr<Poco::XML::NodeList> pList = pDoc->getElementsByTagName("location");
     for(unsigned long i = 0 ; i < pList->length(); i++)
     {
       location = pList->item(i)->innerText();