The mother of a woman who committed suicide just days after being raped by a man pretending to be a taxi driver has spoken about the agony of losing her daughter.

Eleri Linden, 50, from Colwyn Bay, North Wales, was left devastated after discovering that Ceri, 20, had been kidnapped and assaulted on a night out with friends.

But she faced further agony after the young mother, unable to cope with her ordeal, took a fatal overdose less than a week later.

After the attack, Ceri called her friend Carl who phoned the police, eventually Ceri went in to record her video statement that was to be used in her trial after her death

Eleri, photographed before Ceri's death, is speaking out so that other women might be spared the torture of facing their attackers in court

Eleri, a college support assistant, explained that on the night of her assault Ceri had been looking forward to her evening out, after battling mental health problems and the breakdown of her relationship.

She said: 'Ceri had been through a really rough time. She'd suffered badly with depression and I felt she hadn't got the help she needed from the health service.

'Her relationship with her partner, Sam, had also broken down and their two-year-old daughter Bethan was living with him because of Ceri's health problems.'

But her mother reveals that Ceri's life was heading in a positive direction as she planned to continue her education and get her life back on track.

She continued: 'It had been a tough few years for us all. But, finally, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Ceri had an interview for a science course at a college in Chester.

'She was so excited, she'd already put down a deposit on a student flat with two friends. "If I pass, I'll be able to apply for university," she told me.'

Eleri says that she and her daughters have had to remain strong for Ceri's daughter Bethan (pictured with her mum)

That evening of August 10, 2014, Ceri had planned an evening on the town as a way of celebration.

Eleri said: 'I was so proud. Ceri had always been top of the class and she had so much potential. Now, she and her friends had planned a big night out in Chester to celebrate.'

While her daughter was away, Ceri entrusted the care of her spring spaniel Bella to her mother.

Eleri said: 'When she got home, I texted her asking if she wanted to take her for a walk along the beach. Within seconds, my phone had buzzed with a reply which made my blood run cold.

'It read: "I can't. Something terrible has happened." My insides twisted as I dialled Ceri's number.'

Eleri asked her daughter what was wrong, reassuring her that Ceri could tell her anything.

But Ceri was so upset that Eleri couldn't understand what her daughter was saying. Instead she drove the two-minute journey to Ceri's home - where she realised immediately that something was wrong.

Eleri Linden has discussed the horrifying ordeal that her daughter Ceri Linden (pictured) went through following her horrific rape which lead to her daughter's suicide

'Ceri didn't answer the door, so I ran upstairs to her bedroom,' Eleri said. 'She was hiding under the covers and her eyes were red and blotchy.

'"Mum, I've been raped," she croaked, before breaking down in floods of tears.'

Although Eleri was horrified she tried to remain calm for her daughter's sake and asked what had happened.

Ceri had gone to a party before she attempted to get a taxi outside students halls of residence to go to a bar with her friends.

She managed to stop one cab but it left as she went to tell her friends. She then flagged down Iranian Mansouri's BMW 3 series assuming it was a taxi and got into the front seat - only for him to speed away.

He asked her where she wanted to go and she gave him the name of a local nightspot, Bar Six T Nine and told him to wait for her two friends.

Eleri (pictured with Ceri and Ceri's dad Patrick) says that her daughter had been through a rough time ahead of the attack

He started driving but Ceri still thought he was a taxi driver and thought he was just being impatient. She only realised she wasn't in a taxi when he pulled into a residential street.

During the journey, Ceri texted one of her friends saying: 'Think I'm being kidnapped'.

Another message, just 12 seconds later, read: 'Not joking' and a final text, seven seconds after that, read: 'Literally scared.'

Mansouri pulled into his address and told her to switch off her phone and go into the house. Later the court heard how she repeatedly refused yet felt 'trapped and intimidated' and went inside so as not to 'aggravate him'.

Eleri said: 'She felt like she had no choice.'

Ceri then told her mother how she managed to escape, saying, 'I ran as fast as I could and hid in a bush in the next street but I could see his car. He was driving around, looking for me.'

Ceri then phoned her friend Carl who called the police. Upon hearing the commotion a neighbour came out who 'showed no sympathy' and put Ceri in a taxi.

Yet Ceri also told her mother how she had just 'walked the streets alone for hours' and didn't call her mother out of fear that she'd worry her.

Events then moved quickly. Police officers visited and took a statement from Ceri. Eleri was amazed by how much her daughter could remember of her attacker.

She said: 'She described his car, what he looked like and where his house was. She even remembered what way his driveway faced.'

The next day, Ceri was taken to Manchester for humiliating forensic examinations. 'I held her hand in the back of the police car as we travelled there,' Eleri said.

Initially Ceri was terrified of facing her attacker in court telling the police that she feared being 'made out to be a liar'.

Eleri continued: 'But the police talked her round and eventually she agreed to give a video interview. A few days later, we got the call we'd been waiting for.

Ms Linden asked Mansouri to take her to Bar 69 in Chester city centre, where she was going to meet friends

Police had arrested Masood Mansouri, 33, and refused him bail.

'Even though she'd had a bit to drink, Ceri's descriptions were so detailed the police had tracked her attacker down within days,' Eleri said.

'I hoped this would give her a bit of a boost, but she still seemed withdrawn and down. I stayed up all night chatting to her, trying to make her feel better, but it didn't work.'

In a bid to raise her daughter's spirits Eleri decided to cook a roast for Ceri and her sisters Becky, 18, and Emma, 16.

Masood Mansouri was jailed for his crime

'Ceri was vegetarian, so I made sure I picked up some Quorn chicken. I was only gone for around half an hour and I picked up a pastry to take back to her, too.

'When I got home, she was still sitting on the couch, in the same position I'd left her. We chatted as normal for around ten minutes before Ceri said the words which would change all of our lives forever.

'"Mum, I love you but I've taken an overdose."'

A frantic Eleri began quizzing Ceri, discovering that she had downed a bottle of her own blood pressure tablets. Then she passed out.

Eleri called an ambulance but the emergency services response was delayed leaving the family panicked.

Eleri said: 'For the next half hour, Ceri slipped in and out of consciousness, struggling for breath, but there was no sign of the ambulance.

'Poor Becky had to hold her sister's mouth open to help her get some air in her lungs.'

Some 45 minutes after she had made the initial call an ambulance arrived, but as Ceri was placed on the stretcher she suffered a fatal heart attack.

Eleri recalled: 'Deep down, I knew we'd lost her, but I ran to my car and Becky, Emma and I followed the ambulance to hospital.'

The mother-of-three attempted to comfort Ceri's sisters but after a while a doctor told the family that nothing more could be done to save her.

Only seven days had passed since her attack.

Eleri said: 'We clung to each other and cried as she asked for our permission to turn off Ceri's life support machine.

'She asked if we wanted to say a final goodbye, but it was too painful. We didn't want to remember Ceri lying lifeless on a hospital bed.

'I couldn't understand how my beautiful, clever, loving girl was gone. She was just 20.

Ceri, centre, with with sister Becky, left, and mother Eleri, right, was on a night out in Cheshire when she got into a car believing it was a taxi - the man drove her back to his house and attacked her

'For the next few months, we were lost in a haze of grief. Without Ceri, life seemed pointless but Bethan (Ceri's daughter) gave us a reason to go on.'

The next ordeal was Masoon Mansouri's trial which took place at Chester Crown Court in April 2015.

He was charged with rape, kidnap and sexual assault. Ceri's video evidence was played to the jury on a screen in court.

I couldn't face sitting in court listening to Mansouri's lies

The court heard Ceri's recorded statement, saying: 'I woke up yesterday and realised what had happened and the seriousness of it and it hit me.

'I felt worthless and helpless and that I needed to tell someone. I don't feel like this is something which someone should be able to get away with.'

However Eleri stayed away, unable to go through the pain of the trial.

She said: 'I couldn't face sitting in court listening to Mansouri's lies, so I read about the case in the papers. It made me sick to my stomach when he told the court Ceri had come on to him in the taxi.

'I thought, "Why would my beautiful girl touch a monster like you?"'

Then on April 30, 2015, Eleri received the news she she had been waiting for: Mansouri had been found guilty of all charges and would serve 13 years in jail.

Ceri (pictured left with sister Becky) couldn't feel she could cope with life after being raped

It was the first time in British legal history that a rapist had been convicted without the victim being cross examined by the defence.

A rape case has never previously been successfully prosecuted in England and Wales where the evidence of the victim went unchallenged by cross-examination.

This man's actions had driven my lovely Ceri to her death and nothing would bring her back

Eleri recalls: 'I burst into tears but soon my relief turned to anger. This man's actions had driven my lovely Ceri to her death and nothing would bring her back.

'Like many rape victims, she'd have been traumatised at the idea of taking the stand against Mansouri and I know the thought of being cross examined would have terrified her in her final days.

'I can only hope her case might spare other girls the trauma of giving evidence in court after a sexual assault.

'The pain of losing Ceri rips me apart every day but it gives me some comfort to know she helped put her attacker behind bars, where he can't hurt another innocent girl.'