PrivacyListManager fails

I am trying to fetch the privacy list items of a certain user however this always fails with the following response being logged

PrivacyListManager privacyListManager = PrivacyListManager.getInstanceFor( mConnection );
                itemList = privacyListManager.getDefaultList().getItems();
                if(itemList != null)
                    return itemList;

The returned Smack debug

D/SMACK﹕ SENT (0):

03-19 15:19:26.253 10608-10705 D/SMACK﹕ RECV (0):

03-19 15:19:31.263 10608-10704 W/XMPPTCPConnection﹕ shutdownDone was not marked as successful by the writer thread

org.jivesoftware.smack.SmackException$NoResponseException: No response received within reply timeout. Timeout was 5000ms (~5s). Used filter: No filter used or filter was ‘null’.

at org.jivesoftware.smack.SynchronizationPoint.checkForResponse(SynchronizationPoi nt.java:192)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.SynchronizationPoint.checkIfSuccessOrWait(Synchronizatio nPoint.java:114)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter.shutdown(XMPPTCPConne ction.java:1265)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection.shutdown(XMPPTCPConnection.java:49 4)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection.instantShutdown(XMPPTCPConnection. java:483)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection.notifyConnectionError(XMPPTCPConne ction.java:863)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection.access$2600(XMPPTCPConnection.java :139)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter.writePackets(XMPPTCPC onnection.java:1415)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter.access$2700(XMPPTCPCo nnection.java:1166)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter$1.run(XMPPTCPConnecti on.java:1214)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:818)

03-19 15:19:31.271 10608-10704W/AbstractXMPPConnection﹕ Connection closed with error

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method ‘int java.lang.CharSequence.length()’ on a null object reference

at org.jivesoftware.smack.util.LazyStringBuilder.length(LazyStringBuilder.java:72)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.util.LazyStringBuilder.toString(LazyStringBuilder.java:1 00)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.util.XmlStringBuilder.toString(XmlStringBuilder.java:344 )

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter.writePackets(XMPPTCPC onnection.java:1364)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter.access$2700(XMPPTCPCo nnection.java:1166)

at org.jivesoftware.smack.tcp.XMPPTCPConnection$PacketWriter$1.run(XMPPTCPConnecti on.java:1214)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:818)

03-19 15:19:31.293 10608-10961 W/System.err﹕ org.jivesoftware.smack.SmackException$NoResponseException: No response received within reply timeout. Timeout was 5000ms (~5s). Used filter: IQReplyFilter: iqAndIdFilter (AndFilter: (OrFilter: (IQTypeFilter: type=error, IQTypeFilter: type=result), StanzaIdFilter: id=9pqc1-14)), : fromFilter (OrFilter: (FromMatchesFilter (full): null, FromMatchesFilter (bare): user, FromMatchesFilter (full): host)).

If my method is wrong, could someone point me in the right direction?

I am using Smack 4.1.0-rc4 and OpenFire server 3.9.3

This is a new implementation so there are no previous lists that were in existence.

Which Smack version?

Smack version 4.1.0-rc4

After much testing I decided to add a dummy item to the list initially before trying to add a real user to be blocked, then retrieving the list seems to work, and blocking seems to work however when trying to unblock the from the list I created it seems to be an empty list. It only works when i try to remove the user from the default list which then results in a crash and closes the connection.