The mum of a woman suffocated by jailed prankster Edward Rudd has urged parents of people suffering at the hands of a partner to “get through to their child” and convince them they can leave that relationship.

Louise Carr’s daughter Cara Bryant was tormented by the 37-year-old special forces fantasist, who moved into her Melksham home after the breakdown of his own marriage.

Rudd was jailed for 11-and-a-half years last month after jurors at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty of attempted murder.

He had tried to suffocate 36-year-old Cara in her bed, first placing a plastic shopping bag over her head then pressing a pillow over her face as she sobbed “I can’t breathe”. Cara, who died some weeks later of unrelated causes, managed to record the ordeal on her phone – meaning jurors heard Rudd chanting in gobbledygook in the run up to his murder attempt.

In the weeks running up to the assault, Rudd had played bullying pranks on his new partner, filming them on his mobile phone. He’d told her and her family he’d been in the Special Boat Service and suffered flashbacks to his war service, although that was a lie.

Mum Louise, 53, from Melksham, and her family had no idea what Cara was going through until police were called on the night of December 11.

“Cara hadn’t told us what was going on because she wouldn’t have wanted us to think badly of him,” Louise said.

“It all comes down to him pretending he was in the Army. When he had these flashes and outbursts he said it was due to what he had seen when he was out there fighting and that’s what caused him to have all these flashbacks, outbursts and behaviour and he wasn’t himself. It wasn’t until after what he tried to do to her that Cara found out it was all a lie.

“I’m quite a black and white person. If she’d have told me what was going on, I wouldn’t have been happy about it and would probably have caused more problems in that relationship.

“I would have said to her you get rid of him, he’s no good you shouldn’t be putting up with this, you’ve been through a relationship like this before, please don’t do it again.”

Louise and Cara had spoken over a cup of tea the afternoon after the assault. “It was before she knew everything was a lie. Mum, she said, I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to think badly of him because it’s not his fault, he just needs some mental help because of what he saw when he was in the forces, it’s not his fault.”

“Bubbly” Cara – Louise’s firstborn daughter - was devastated when she found out Rudd had lied – not even telling his ex-wife he’d been in a relationship with her.

“Because of the way she knows how I am – and I was quite over-protective of Cara as well because she was a poorly girl – she wouldn’t have told me. And that’s what she told me, she said ‘mum, I couldn’t have told you because I know what you’re like’,” Louise said.

“I felt absolutely gutted. I felt gutted that because of the way I am she felt she couldn’t talk to me about any of it.”

She urged parents to try to get through to their children if they feared they were victims of abusive partners. “Please, please, please just try somehow to get through to their child or whoever it is they’re concerned about that they don’t have to stay in a situation like this.

“Don’t be self-opinionated, I would say. I think that’s part of the reason why Cara didn’t tell me; because I can be quite opinionated on things.”

Louise is supporting a Wiltshire Police campaign to encourage victims to report domestic abuse. For support, call SWA’s 24 hour helpline on 01793 610610.