A guy from the British Isles, released, is now totally at liberty (4-4)
I believe the answer is:
scot-free
'at liberty' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a guy from the british isles released is now totally' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'from' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
'released' could be 'free' (similar in meaning) and 'free' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scot-free that I've seen before include "Unscathed" , "Without loss or penalty" , "See 12" , "(Get off) without punishment" , "Without harm or loss" .)