Crossword Genius

According to vacuous prince, heartless informer is the one who did wrong (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

perpetrator

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'according to vacuous prince heartless informer is the one who did wrong' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'according to vacuous prince heartless informer is the one who did wrong' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'according' could be 'per' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'per' is located in the answer.
'to' is within the answer.
'prince' could be 'p' (abbreviation for prince) and 'p' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is present in the answer.
'wrong' could be 'err' (to err is make an error) and 'err' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for perpetrator that I've seen before include "agent" , "Committer (of a crime)" , "One who commits a bad action" , "One who commits (a bad act)" , "One committing (a bad deed)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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