The British policeman guilty of murdering Londoner Sarah Everard in a crime that rocked the country launched an appeal on Wednesday against his life sentence.

"An application for permission to mount an appeal against sentence has been lodged," said a Court of Appeal official.

Wayne Couzens, 48, used his police ID card to arrest the 33-year-old as she walked home in south London on the evening of March 3.

He accused her of breaching coronavirus restrictions before handcuffing her, putting her in his car and then raping her.

He strangled the marketing executive and set her body alight in a wooded area around 60 miles (96 kilometres) southeast of London.

Judge Adrian Fulford said last month that Couzens' use of his police status to carry out the "grotesque" offences warranted the highest penalty, a rare whole-life jail term for which there is no possibility of parole.
The case stirred soul-searching in Britain, with many women opening up about their feelings of insecurity.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "sickened" at Couzens' crimes, and that the officer had acted in "total betrayal" of his role to protect the public.