A police officer was jailed for life on Thursday for abducting marketing executive Sarah Everard on a London street as she walked home then raping and murdering her in a case that shocked Britain and stirred protests over violence against women.

Wayne Couzens, 48, a serving London officer who had guarded diplomatic premises, had used his position to stop Everard, the Old Bailey court heard.

Couzens forced Everard, 33, into a hire car as she walked home after visiting a friend in south London on March 3. Her body was found in woodland around 80km away in southeast England. A post-mortem concluded she had died as a result of compression of the neck.

His whole life sentence means he has no chance of parole. “Nothing can make things better, nothing can bring Sarah back, but knowing he will be imprisoned forever brings some relief,” Everard’s family said in a statement.

“Wayne Couzens held a position of trust as a police officer and we are outraged and sickened that he abused this trust in order to lure Sarah to her death.” The murder prompted outpourings of anger from women who have recounted their own fears of being out alone at night.

Judge Adrian Fulford said Couzens had long planned a violent sexual assault on a yet-to-be-selected victim who he intended to coerce into his custody.