diff --git a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py
index f3f42f97a..0e3e25960 100644
--- a/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py
+++ b/wagtail/contrib/postgres_search/utils.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, unicode_literals
 
 import operator
-import re
 from functools import partial, reduce
 from itertools import zip_longest
 
@@ -31,25 +30,6 @@ AND = partial(reduce, operator.and_)
 ADD = partial(reduce, operator.add)
 
 
-def keyword_split(keywords):
-    """
-    Return all the keywords in a keyword string.
-
-    Keeps keywords surrounded by quotes together, removing the surrounding quotes:
-
-    >>> keyword_split('Hello I\\'m looking for "something special"')
-    ['Hello', "I'm", 'looking', 'for', 'something special']
-
-    Nested quoted strings are returned as is:
-
-    >>> keyword_split("He said \\"I'm looking for 'something special'\\" so I've given him the 'special item'")
-    ['He', 'said', "I'm looking for 'something special'", 'so', "I've", 'given', 'him', 'the', 'special item']
-
-    """
-    matches = re.findall(r'"([^"]+)"|\'([^\']+)\'|(\S+)', keywords)
-    return [match[0] or match[1] or match[2] for match in matches]
-
-
 def get_descendant_models(model):
     """
     Returns all descendants of a model, including the model itself.