Meeting prisoner to receive stolen goods, hiding sign of hesitation (10)
I believe the answer is:
conference
'meeting' is the definition.
(I know that meeting can be written as conference)
'prisoner to receive stolen goods hiding sign of hesitation' is the wordplay.
'prisoner' becomes 'con' (abbreviation for 'convict').
'to receive stolen goods' becomes 'fence' ('fence' can be a synonym of 'receive stolen goods').
'hiding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sign of hesitation' becomes 'er'.
'fence' going around 'er' is 'ference'.
'con'+'ference'='CONFERENCE'
(Other definitions for conference that I've seen before include "Assembly for discussion" , "A chance to discuss" , "synod?" , "Meeting for discussion - type of pear" , "fruit" .)