Boden case leads to mistaken identity
A Black Country singer has become a victim of circumstance following a terrifying kidnap.
Sarah Marshall, 20, has an identical name and age to a woman awaiting sentence for false imprisonment.
The former Bilston Carnival Queen had also appeared on stage singing duets with the kidnapper, Tony Boden, and performed in shows such as Bilston's Party In The Park that had been staged by his father, Joe.
Now Sarah fears that the extraordinary chain of coincidence is set to blight her fledgling career.
She said: "People are putting two and two together and coming up with five, because of the almost unbelievable chain of coincidences and it is causing a lot of embarrassment."
"I do not want this to tarnish my reputation, but I have been told that people phoned my agent to say they did not want to use me again because of the kidnap. It is a nightmare.
"Joe Boden did a lot to help me get started in singing and I worked with Tony. We even sang duets together.
"I have known Tony for five years. He seemed like a nice bloke. It shocked me to the core when I heard what had happened."
Her lorry driver father John, 60, who recently moved with wife Sheila to Kirby Drive, Gornal, from Stourdale Road, Halesowen, feels for his daughter.
He said: "People have been saying they will never book Sarah again, because they believed she had been involved in the kidnapping.
"This must be nipped in the bud before it does any more damage.
"It is like a perfect storm, with all the wrong pieces of the jigsaw coming together at once."
Sarah, now studying at the Brighton Insititute of Modern Music, sings regularly in Midland pubs and clubs, even appearing on TV's Stars in Your Eyes in 2005 as pop singer Shakira.
Earlier this month Tony Boden admitted kidnapping a teenaged girl, who was kept bound and gagged in a dungeon below his Soundmasters music shop in High Street, Bilston, from February 28 to March 3.
Dark-haired Sarah Marshall, 20, a mother-of-two from The Crescent, Bilston, admitted false imprisonment. Her plea of not guilty to kidnap was accepted by the prosecution.
The pair were remanded in custody until July 20 for pre-sentence reports and - in the case of Boden - a psychiatric assessment.
