A WOMAN shot by a gunman in a busy city centre street as she looked at a jewellers shop window, has spoken of her ordeal.

And today Janet Scott, aged 42, revealed: "I had no idea I'd been shot."

Mrs Scott, who was shopping in King Street, Manchester, with her 62-year-old husband David, is believed to have been the innocent victim of what police say was a bizarre accident.

Detectives are still hunting the lone gunman who escaped chased by passers-by.

After Mrs Scott fell to the ground, bleeding from the leg, the man with the gun tried to pretend that a firework had gone off.

Mrs Scott, a receptionist at a doctor's surgery, had been looking in Boodle and Dunthorne jewellers in King Street, on her way to lunch in the city's Chinatown district.

Recovering at her home in Buckingham Avenue, Horwich, after being released from hospital, Mrs Scott revealed that she was still deeply shocked by the incident.

She said: "All I can remember is that I was walking away from the jewellers when there was a loud bang.

''A man behind me said it was a firework, but I couldn't see anything.

''I felt like I'd been given a dead leg, like I'd been thumped really hard. I started to feel very weak and wobbly and my legs gave way beneath me and I collapsed.

''I couldn't understand what had happened but I put my hand on my thigh and I saw the blood. I thought perhaps the firework had grazed my leg at first.

''I was numb, I had no idea that I'd been shot.

"Then a nurse came to help me and told me that there was a hole in my leg and I realised a firework couldn't do that.

"I was shaking, I was just so shocked. Who would have thought that something like that could have happened?''

Mrs Scott was left in agony on the ground while Mr Scott and passers by chased the gunman who fled barefoot after taking off his sandals. She was treated by paramedics at the scene before she was taken to the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The shooting happened at around noon on Thursday.

Mr Scott, a self employed company director, said he feared his wife was going to die. He added: "She has been terribly shaken by the ordeal, we both have.''

Mrs Scott added: "I feel very sore but I am all right. The hospital said I would make a full recovery, but I am due to go back for some check-ups in the next few weeks.''

Detectives, who are still hunting the gunman, believe the shot may have been fired by accident.

Police have yet to recover the bullet or pellet which is thought to have caused the injuries to Mrs Scott's leg.

Detectives are studying CCTV footage from the city centre to try to trace the gunman's movements immediately before and after the incident.