An emaciated dog which has been named after ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is fighting for life after being dumped in a cardboard box.

The Staffordshire bull terrier was so thin the police inspector who found her said she resembled "the dog equivalent of a Belsen victim".

RSPCA staff say the dog, now known as Geri, was close to death when found.

The dog, a pure bred terrier, was found by Inspector Lance Gray of Horsham police as he drove by a lay-by off the A24 at Kingsfold.

He said: "There is often a lot of rubbish in the lay-by and out of the corner of my eye I saw a cardboard box which contained folded lining and a little head peered up out of it.

"I couldn't stop because there was a big queue of cars behind me so I went to work, came back in a police car, called the RSPCA and found this emaciated dog.

"It could not run away it was so weak and it could barely hold its head up.

"Someone has let it get to that state and then just decided to abandon it.

"I have previously prosecuted a couple of incidents of causing unnecessary suffering.

"In one, I executed a drugs warrant and found a dog half starved and tied to a radiator.

"I thought that was bad but it was nothing compared with this one. It is the dog equivalent of a Belsen victim. I have never seen such a terrible case of starvation in a dog."

RSPCA inspector Melissa Cox took Geri, believed to be between six and ten, to a vet.

She said: "She's now on a drip. The poor thing is very, very emaciated and can't even hold herself up but has managed to keep down a bit of solid food.

"Inspector Gray came along just in time. If she had been there any longer she would be dead. We are hoping very much to get her well."

Vet Zoe Gibbs, of the Arthur Lodge Surgery in Horsham, said Geri had probably been abandoned earlier in the day as she was not dehydrated.