Sicilian perhaps admitting to defamation (8)
I believe the answer is:
islander
'sicilian' is the definition.
(Sicily is an island)
'admitting to defamation' is the wordplay.
'admitting' becomes 'i' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to defamation' becomes 'slander' (slander is a kind of defamation).
'i'+'slander'='ISLANDER'
'perhaps' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for islander that I've seen before include "one from Jersey, perhaps" , "Inhabitant of Man, for example" , "Lesbian for one" , "Samoan, maybe" , "Maybe Corfiot" .)