A DRINK-DRIVER was told he was lucky he had not killed two schoolgirls after he mowed them down when he mounted a pavement in a stolen car.

Michael Garrett did not even stop after ploughing into the teenagers, but callously sped off “to save his own skin” before he soon crashed into a lamppost.

The 35-year-old banned driver was more than twice the limit when he struck the girls in the Blackwood area.

But he was spared an immediate prison sentence after Cardiff Crown Court was told he has an incurable brain tumour.

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A judge took mercy on Garrett so that he can have better access to the medical care he urgently needs.

The defendant, it emerged, has just started chemotherapy.

He hit his young victims as he was travelling through Cefn Fforest after stealing his mother’s Vauxhall Corsa on February 1 2020.

The defendant pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and failing to stop.

Garrett, of Waunllwyn Crescent, Blackwood, also admitted drink-driving after testing for 83 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

Nik Stobl, mitigating, said: “The defendant has a brain tumour which is incurable.”

His barrister added: “It is 14 months since these offences and he has not been in trouble since.”

The court heard the defendant was diagnosed with the brain tumour in 2014 and was operated on a year later but the growth remains.

Recorder IWL Jones told Garrett: “You knew you were not allowed to take your mother’s car and you drove off when you were disqualified, had no insurance and when you were over the drink drive limit.

“You mounted a pavement where two teenage girls were walking and you struck them.

“They could have died. You didn’t stop. You sped off to save your own skin before you crashed into a lamppost.

“The two girls suffered bruising and abrasions and had to be taken to hospital.

“They have suffered from flashbacks and had to take time off school for a couple of weeks.”

The judge jailed Garrett for 14 months, suspended for two years.

He must complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement and was banned from driving for 10 years.