diff --git a/lucene/CHANGES.txt b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
index cb436c5e2b6..ecfe9c082cb 100644
--- a/lucene/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
@@ -484,6 +484,11 @@ Bug fixes
 
 ======================= Lucene 3.x (not yet released) ================
 
+Bug fixes
+
+* LUCENE-3251: Directory#copy failed to close target output if opening the
+  source stream failed. (Simon Willnauer)
+
 Optimizations
 
 * LUCENE-3201, LUCENE-3218: CompoundFileSystem code has been consolidated 
diff --git a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/store/Directory.java b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/store/Directory.java
index 33db1a8ed6e..964f502b4e8 100644
--- a/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/store/Directory.java
+++ b/lucene/src/java/org/apache/lucene/store/Directory.java
@@ -224,10 +224,12 @@ public abstract class Directory implements Closeable {
    * overwrite it if it does.
    */
   public void copy(Directory to, String src, String dest) throws IOException {
-    IndexOutput os = to.createOutput(dest);
-    IndexInput is = openInput(src);
+    IndexOutput os = null;
+    IndexInput is = null;
     IOException priorException = null;
     try {
+      os = to.createOutput(dest);
+      is = openInput(src);
       is.copyBytes(os, is.length());
     } catch (IOException ioe) {
       priorException = ioe;