diff --git a/matlab/estimation/smc/hssmc.m b/matlab/estimation/smc/hssmc.m
index 56141312a5297a9ef8edaa7915120d8d737507f4..8f35a8ca203f1f793244fa9bdcfb89de64e144f9 100644
--- a/matlab/estimation/smc/hssmc.m
+++ b/matlab/estimation/smc/hssmc.m
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ function mdd = hssmc(TargetFun, mh_bounds, dataset_, dataset_info, options_, M_,
 
     % Set location for the simulated particles.
     SimulationFolder = CheckPath('hssmc', M_.dname);
+    %delete old stale files before creating new ones
+    delete_stale_file(sprintf('%s%sparticles-*.mat', SimulationFolder,filesep))
 
     % Define prior distribution
     Prior = dprior(bayestopt_, options_.prior_trunc);