Old lady suffered and didn't speak up (7)

I believe the answer is:

mumbled

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'didn't speak up' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'old lady suffered' is the wordplay.
'old lady' becomes 'mum' (old lady can informally mean someone's mother).
'suffered' becomes 'bled' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mum'+'bled'='MUMBLED'

'and' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for mumbled that I've seen is " Muttered".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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