Judges in Strasbourg insisted crime gang members including drug barons and hitmen were entitled to have their 'right to life' protected as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ruling means police are legally obliged to sending threat to life notices to ruthless gangsters as they battling it out with other in vicious turf wars.Â
Former justice minister Dominic Raab complained 'huge amounts' of police time and resources were being diverted away from protecting 'innocent, law-abiding citizens' as a result.
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It's crazy that the unchecked expansion of human rights means precious police resources are squandered protecting gangsters from each other
He told House magazine the European Court of Human Rights had "expanded through mission creep the scope of the Convention without any democratic accountability".
He said: "One of the things that happened because of Strasbourg – not the European Convention itself, but the judges – is they expanded through mission creep the scope of the Convention without any democratic accountability, to say that if police forces were aware of a risk to someone they must notify them.
"Now, that may be good policy. But turning it into a human right that can be enforced in court is crazy.
"One of the things I learnt as we started to gather evidence for the Bill of Rights, talking to Greater Manchester police, is that they now, as a result of that ruling, have to give tip-offs and notify gangsters who are fighting each other.
"And that absorbs a huge amount of their time."
He continued: "Now I'm not saying you should let gangsters fight it out, but I don't see why police resources - and this was the evidence we heard - should be displaced giving threat-to-life notices and tipping off gangsters who are engaged in gang warfare with each other.
"I would like to see that taxpayers' money and police focus on dealing with and prioritising threats to innocent, law-abiding citizens.
"It's crazy that the unchecked expansion of human rights means precious police resources are squandered protecting gangsters from each other - rather than prioritised to protect law-abiding citizens."
The Tories have pledged to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights.
Justice Secretary Liz Truss said told MPs her department was drawing up plans but gave no date for their publication.