Attempted murderer maybe has a bit of respect for one old lag (8)
I believe the answer is:
prisoner
'one old lag' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'attempted murderer maybe has a bit of respect' is the wordplay.
'attempted murderer maybe' becomes 'pris' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'has' says to put letters next to each other.
'a' becomes 'one'.
'bit of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'respect' is 'r'.
'pris'+'one'+'r'='PRISONER'
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prisoner that I've seen before include "Incarcerated person" , "Gaol inmate" , "Captive or criminal in jail" , "individual incarcerated" , "Senior PR (anag) - one in detention" .)