diff --git a/pillar/web/users/routes.py b/pillar/web/users/routes.py
index ded7a0c7..30950325 100644
--- a/pillar/web/users/routes.py
+++ b/pillar/web/users/routes.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from flask import (abort, Blueprint, current_app, flash, redirect,
                    render_template, request, session, url_for)
 from flask_login import login_required, login_user, logout_user, current_user
 from flask_oauthlib.client import OAuthException
+from werkzeug import exceptions as wz_exceptions
+
 from pillar.auth import UserClass, subscriptions
 from pillar.web import system_util
 from .forms import UserProfileForm
@@ -192,7 +194,13 @@ def users_edit(user_id):
     if not current_user.has_role('admin'):
         return abort(403)
     api = system_util.pillar_api()
-    user = User.find(user_id, api=api)
+
+    try:
+        user = User.find(user_id, api=api)
+    except sdk_exceptions.ResourceNotFound:
+        log.warning('Non-existing user %r requested.', user_id)
+        raise wz_exceptions.NotFound('Non-existing user %r requested.' % user_id)
+
     form = UserEditForm()
     if form.validate_on_submit():
         def get_groups(roles):
diff --git a/src/templates/users/index.jade b/src/templates/users/index.jade
index 317eb8bd..a589b64e 100644
--- a/src/templates/users/index.jade
+++ b/src/templates/users/index.jade
@@ -104,7 +104,20 @@ script(type="text/javascript").
 		var url = '/u/' + userId + '/edit?embed=1';
 		$.get(url, function(dataHtml){
 			$('#search-hit-container').html(dataHtml);
-		});
+		})
+		.fail(function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
+			var $userbox = $(".search-hit.users[data-user-id='" + userId + "']");
+			var $msgbox = $userbox.find('.search-hit-roles');
+
+			if (console) console.log('Error fetching user', userId, '; jqXHR=', jqXHR);
+			$userbox.addClass('alert alert-warning');
+			if (jqXHR.status == 404) {
+				$msgbox.text('This user does not seem to exist.');
+			} else {
+				$msgbox.text('There was an error fetching the user: ' + jqXHR.responseText + '.')
+			}
+		})
+		;
 	}
 
 	$('body').on('click', '.search-hit', function(){