diff --git a/pkg/message/parser/part.go b/pkg/message/parser/part.go
index 7b6debe5..78fdf02d 100644
--- a/pkg/message/parser/part.go
+++ b/pkg/message/parser/part.go
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ func (p *Part) ConvertToUTF8() error {
 	}
 
 	// HELP: Is this okay? What about when the charset is embedded in structured text type eg html/xml?
+	if params == nil {
+		params = make(map[string]string)
+	}
 	params["charset"] = "utf-8"
+
 	p.Header.SetContentType(t, params)
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/test/features/bridge/smtp/send/failures.feature b/test/features/bridge/smtp/send/failures.feature
index 099b2026..8fd3dfb8 100644
--- a/test/features/bridge/smtp/send/failures.feature
+++ b/test/features/bridge/smtp/send/failures.feature
@@ -38,4 +38,4 @@ Feature: SMTP wrong messages
 
 
       """
-    Then SMTP response is "SMTP error: 554 Error: transaction failed, blame it on the weather: multipart: NextPart: EOF"
+    Then SMTP response is "SMTP error: 554 Error: transaction failed, blame it on the weather: unexpected EOF"