@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.codec.DecoderException;
 import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Hex;
-import uk.gov.objecthash.exceptions.InvalidRedactedValue;
-
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
-import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 public class StringValue implements ObjectHashable {
     private final String value;
@@ -20,7 +16,13 @@ public byte[] digest() {
             try {
                 return Hex.decodeHex(hexDigest);
             } catch (DecoderException e) {
-                throw new InvalidRedactedValue("Invalid hex digest: " + hexDigest, e);
+                /* 
+                 * If the redacted value is not valid hex, then treat it as
+                 * a non-redacted string. This ensures that every possible
+                 * data structure has a hash. We do not enforce that the hash
+                 * length matches any particular hashing algorithm, only that
+                 * it is hex encoded.
+                 */
             }
         }
 
 
@@ -148,5 +148,10 @@ public void returnsSuppliedHashIfRedacted() {
     public void hashesKnownRedactedHash() {
         assertEquals(ObjectHash.toHexDigest("**REDACTED**2a42a9c91b74c0032f6b8000a2c9c5bcca5bb298f004e8eff533811004dea511"), "2a42a9c91b74c0032f6b8000a2c9c5bcca5bb298f004e8eff533811004dea511" );
     }
+    
+    @Test
+    public void hashesInvalidRedactedValues() {
+        assertEquals(ObjectHash.toHexDigest("**REDACTED**banana"), "525b975c2979f427dcb79db8992035a9c2157a3c54492050753b9af552756c7a");
+    }
 
 }
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -148,5 +148,10 @@ public void returnsSuppliedHashIfRedacted() {`
`148`	`148`	`public void hashesKnownRedactedHash() {`
`149`	`149`	`assertEquals(ObjectHash.toHexDigest("REDACTED2a42a9c91b74c0032f6b8000a2c9c5bcca5bb298f004e8eff533811004dea511"), "2a42a9c91b74c0032f6b8000a2c9c5bcca5bb298f004e8eff533811004dea511" );`
`150`	`150`	`}`
	`151`	`+`
	`152`	`+ @Test`
	`153`	`+ public void hashesInvalidRedactedValues() {`
	`154`	`+ assertEquals(ObjectHash.toHexDigest("REDACTEDbanana"), "525b975c2979f427dcb79db8992035a9c2157a3c54492050753b9af552756c7a");`
	`155`	`+ }`
`151`	`156`
`152`	`157`	`}`