Malicious person pinches head of little girl (7)

I believe the answer is:

melanie

'girl' is the definition.

'malicious person pinches head of little' is the wordplay.
'malicious person' becomes 'meanie' (I've seen this in another clue).
'pinches' indicates putting letters inside (pinch can mean to steal).
'head of' says to take the initial letters.
The first letter of 'little' is 'l'.
'meanie' enclosing 'l' is 'MELANIE'.

(Another definition for melanie that I've seen is " Girl".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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