diff --git a/phpBB/phpbb/json_sanitizer.php b/phpBB/phpbb/json_sanitizer.php
index 1a1d8aef3a..157502624f 100644
--- a/phpBB/phpbb/json_sanitizer.php
+++ b/phpBB/phpbb/json_sanitizer.php
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 
 namespace phpbb;
 
+use phpbb\request\type_cast_helper;
+
 /**
 * JSON sanitizer class
 */
@@ -30,7 +32,7 @@ class json_sanitizer
 		if (!empty($data))
 		{
 			$json_sanitizer = function (&$value, $key) {
-				$type_cast_helper = new \phpbb\request\type_cast_helper();
+				$type_cast_helper = new type_cast_helper();
 				$type_cast_helper->set_var($value, $value, gettype($value), true);
 			};
 			array_walk_recursive($data, $json_sanitizer);
@@ -38,4 +40,16 @@ class json_sanitizer
 
 		return $data;
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Decode and sanitize json data
+	 *
+	 * @param string $json JSON data string
+	 *
+	 * @return array Data array
+	 */
+	static public function decode($json)
+	{
+		return self::sanitize(json_decode($json, true));
+	}
 }