Sneak home late (8)
I believe the answer is:
informer
'sneak' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'home late' is the wordplay.
'home' becomes 'in' ('he's home' can mean 'he's in').
'late' becomes 'former' (I've seen this before).
'in'+'former'='INFORMER'
(Other definitions for informer that I've seen before include "sneak" , "who may betray someone?" , "He gives incriminating data about others to the police" , "Criminal helping police" , "stoolie" .)